
Class. 
Book. 



y 



L3. 



Copyright N°_ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



THE PROBLEM 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY 
. . OF A PHYSICIAN . . 



By 
CHARLES PERCY, B- Sc, M. D. 



''Credo quae de inferis dicuntur falsa existimas." 

— CATO 



THE SHAKESPEARE PRESS 

114-116 EAST 28th STREET 

NEW YORK 

1913 



R|54 



Copyright, 1913, 
by The Shakespeare Press. 



flK 24 f9/3 



©CI.A3 612 9 3 \ 



THE PROBLEM 



The Autobiography of a Physician. 



That most vexed of questions which has ever 
stood stolidly before the race for all time past, 
that has ever haunted the brain of every tribe and 
nation, never failing to present itself to each in- 
dividual, but to be set aside unsolved, only to rise 
again, ever and anon, at some odd and least ex- 
pected moment to haunt him with its fears, that 
problem, the most momentous ever yet wrought 
upon by mind of man, attacked from almost every 
quarter and assailed from almost every side, is 
now for the first time in the history of the race 
pierced in a mortal part. The vastness of this 
problem is hardly to be comprehended by the av- 
erage individual, who is driven more by fear 
than by that unquenchable fire, that ungovernable 
passion, which has ever been Truth's most faithful 
ally; and even to the highest intellect a second 
thought or perhaps much contemplation is neces- 
sary to grasp its far-reaching effects, no less in 



4 THE PROBLEM 

the realm of thought than in the domain of human 
action. Yet it is bound in, circumscribed on every 
side, by a region the vastness of which is unlimited, 
the eternalness of which surpasses it beyond all 
comprehension, and with which there has been an 
antagonism, an incessant warfare cutting off from 
time to time more and more of its territory, till 
now an inroad is made to its very centre, causing 
not only the outlying provinces, but its whole 
realm, to quake in terror before the onward march 
of its eternally mortal enemy. 

I had studied Science at two universities, and 
then, having turned my attention to Medicine, 
spent a fortune in preparing myself to meet the 
obstructions to the workings of the animal body, 
especially that of Man. Even while at school I 
was noted for putting strange and queer questions 
to those above me, who were supposed to be able 
to answer all questions that might come from an 
underling. Time and again the boldness of these 
questions caused surprise among my schoolmates, 
and was a source of great annoyance no less to 
them than to me, at their very strangeness, as they 
would suddenly arise in my mind and shape them- 
selves into the utterances that would be continually 
propounded on nearly every subject that came up 
before them. 

In due time, my course and stay at the hospital 
having ended (where, let me add, I was thoroughly 



THE PROBLEM 5 

disliked by the interne for the same propensity 
that had haunted me while at the university and 
the medical college), I found myself practising 

medicine in the small city of N . Now that 

there was no one else to question I soon took to 
questioning myself. And for the first time that 
trait in my character appeared ridiculous to me, 
so that often I could hardly refrain from laughing 
at the questions I would catch myself asking my- 
self. But try as I would I could not desist from 
it, for it had grown into such a habit with me that 
to have stopped it would have involved a complete 
stoppage of thinking. As usual, however, I began 
to ask questions concerning the questions that I 
asked, and among them how I might, in some 
manner, remedy the defect. After several steps 
in the process it finally resolved itself into this: 
If it cannot be stopped, can it not be turned into 
another channel, when it suddenly occurred to me : 
Instead of questioning self why not question 
Nature? Why not burden nature with my inter- 
rogatories? This set me to experimenting. 

Time passed, and I had begun to congratulate 
myself on the advances I was making in the acqui- 
sition of knowledge, when I was suddenly con- 
fronted with a patient sinking under a terrible 
malady, slowly but surely exhausting his vitality 
before the deadly onslaughts of a malignant dis- 
ease. Most of my patients had been the "chron- 



6 THE PROBLEM 

ics" who never die of their malady, or those of 
slight ailments, who are well again in a day or 
two. As I was leaving the house (I'll admit I was 
somewhat excited over the condition of my pa- 
tient, and in my solicitude for his welfare, for the 
moment forgot myself entirely in my thoughts 
and meditations) I soon caught myself, as former- 
ly, asking myself questions, instinctively asking 
myself all manner of questions bearing on the 
cause and effect of the malady that weighed down 
my patient. Finally the one came that seemed to 
hold out a glimmer of hope : If he cannot be cured 
can he be made to live in spite of it? With this 
thought in mind I made my way back to my office 
revolving mentally as to the possible means to ac- 
complish my purpose. 

And now my university training stood me in 
good stead; for instead of plunging headlong at 
results, I began methodically to collect my thoughts 
on all subjects that could be of use to me : as Chem- 
istry, Biology, Anatomy, Physiology and Physics. 
Little heed was given to the remedies usually pre- 
scribed ; for I saw at a glance that it was what is 
generally classed as one of the "incurable dis- 
eases. ' ' But now the habit that had of late grown 
in me made me catch myself again, so that I almost 
laughed aloud at the foolhardiness that possessed 
me in trying to baffle a disease which the whole 
medical profession had never yet made an im- 
pression against, the victims of which had never 



THE PROBLEM 7 

yet failed to die. Fortunately, however, it was of 
slow progress, very slow in its effects on the 
system; so that there was ample time to collect 
facts and fit up all apparatus necessary for the 
carrying out of my undertaking. 

After observing the patient for a week or more 
I noticed that he was always much better on the 
mornings after a good night's sleep. This led me 
to investigate the nature of sleep, especially its 
relation to the nourishment of the different parts 
of the body. 

The greatest authority of the ancient world 
said: "Naturaleni calorem dissipat, laesa concoc- 
tione cruditates facit. Attenuant juvenum vigila- 
tae corpora noctes." — Gralen, 3, de sanitate. But 
that was the very opposite condition I found in my 
patient; and I could not but accept my own ob- 
servations rather than the conclusions of one who 
never saw this individual. And yet it was with 
hesitancy that I doubted, weighing the gravity of 
being skeptical of another's observations, without 
first having a full knowledge of the acuteness of 
his perceptions and the thoroughness of his inves- 
tigations. I consoled myself, however, with the 
thought that he had not the array of facts chance 
had thrown in my way. The next authority of 
importance said: "* * * cerebro siccitatem 
adfert, phrenesin et delirium, corpus aridum facit, 
squalidum, strigosum, humores adurit, tempera- 
mentum cerebri corrumpit, maciem inducit : exsic- 



8 THE PROBLEM 

cat corpus, bilem accendit, prof undo s reddit ocu- 
los calorem augit." — Instit. ad vitam opt. cap. 26. 
But surely sleep cannot be both a cause and an 
effect of one and the same thing. So I sought at 
once other authorities. But nothing of impor- 
tance could be found ; and the only reference rele- 
vant to the subject was, "Magnam excremen- 
torum vim cerebro et aliis partibus conservat. ' ' — 
Fuchsuus, Lib. 2, sect. 2, cap 4, which was worthy 
of careful consideration. Yet, after much thought, 
I could not but conclude that the author looked 
upon the brain simply as the other organs in every 
respect ; in other words, he looked upon the mind 
as having an entity, which of course is the ques- 
tion at issue. Though he was very near the truth, 
yet as far from it as possibly could be. Another 
observer states: "* * * corpus infrigidat, 
omnes sensus, mentisque vires torpore debilitat." 
— Fernel, Path. lib. cap. 17. But here again an 
effect is taken for a cause. 

I searched through work after work, system 
after system, but all were as unsatisfactory as the 
vague thoughts I had had on the subject before. 
So I cast them aside in disgust, saying to myself 
as I did so: "Has the sum of human knowledge 
been increased by Metaphysics ? If this vexed ques- 
tion is to be solved by me it must be by methods of 
my own, for these ancient authors only throw a 
cloud of mystery around a question which should 



THE PROBLEM 9 

be divested of all obscurity, since it is only en- 
shrouded in ignorance. ' ' So setting aside all pre- 
conceived notions, I began to observe the phenom- 
ena bearing on the subject among any and all the 
material that came in my way, which was much; 
for I could study my patients while they were 
entirely ignorant of my purpose. And, let me add, 
the observations cannot but be disorderly and dis- 
connected as all observations must be, from their 
very nature, though true in every detail. And 
here my training again stood me in good stead, for 
Science never leaps to a conclusion, but steps 
slowly but surely toward its goal, Truth. 

It is a common observation that man sleeps at 
night ; but some animals sleep only during the day. 
I had several patients who had for years been 
employed at night, and who slept during the day. 
The desire for sleep affects or arouses the sensa- 
tion in the head; as thirst to the fauces, hunger to 
the stomach, and breathing to the chest. This sen- 
sation always approaches through a definite chan- 
nel and bears along with it certain well-known 
characteristic traits : yawning, intermittent spasm 
of the subhyoid muscles, the dropping of the upper 
eye-lids, then the relaxation of all the muscles of 
the neck; gradually the intellect is obscured, the 
special senses are depressed along with general 
sensibility, the inspirations become lower and 
deeper, the eyelids close more and more, often the 
mouth opens, the chin drops to the breast, the 



10 THE PBOBLEM 

limbs fall by the body; all from the relaxation of 
the muscular system. 

There is a definite order in the relaxation of the 
muscles and groups of muscles, too, that is notice- 
able ; first the eyelids, then the muscles supporting 
the jaw, then the head, etc. And what is of inter- 
est as bearing on the subject of our inquiry is that 
it is in the inverse order of the special senses. The 
higher and more special senses first, then those 
next higher, etc., down to those that are not af- 
fected at all, or may even be intensified, thus 
giving a physical basis for all mental phenomena. 
Of much more importance as bearing on the sub- 
ject of our investigations are the broken utter- 
ances that mark the vagueness of thought; the 
crowding images grouping themselves in heedless 
array before the mind, and only making an im- 
pression here or there on the tablet of conscious 
memory. They are old sensory impressions or an 
unbridled imagination. The "Will sleeps, while 
ideas grotesque, entangled, rise spontaneously, 
vivid for a moment, then disappearing; for the 
controlling power, Inhibition, is no longer active. 
There is, however, an organic basis for their ap- 
parently spontaneous origination. Else why do 
the images so often group themselves around the 
occurrences of recent events? They are always 
consecutive too, within themselves, though not so 
adjusted as to the events of the external world nor 
concomitant with them. So, no Space; no Time. 



THE PROBLEM 11 

Yet the straggling ideas may develop as verse, a 
mathematical problem or a set speech. This state, 
varying in infinite grades, so that the impressions 
are registered, but in a disorderly manner, as fan- 
tastic as it is possible for the imagination to con- 
ceive, and more or less vivid as the images ap- 
proach to or recede from Consciousness, consti- 
tutes what is known as Dreams, till finally the 
actions in the external world cease to register 
themselves on the sensorium. 

Up to this point there is no sleep, but only its 
approach, but when the process has passed beyond 
the stage of recording any impressions it is then 
Sleep, which also varies in degree in all stages 
from where it is not to be differentiated from the 
dream-state to where all psychic phenomena what- 
ever are abolished. After a varying period of 
profound sleep, the sensorium again shows signs 
of psychical activity, usually after six or eight 
hours; faintly at first; that is the dream-state 
again; then the outer activities impress the sen- 
sorium more yet incoordinate, then less vague, 
then partly conscious, and then the sleeper awakes. 
In this dream-state the fantastic forms that float 
and flow before the mental vision are too light and 
airy to be tabulated on the sensorium, save one 
impression here, another there, with the connect- 
ing impressions too faint for record. So there is 
loss of continuous sensation, loss of conscious 
continuity, usually called Time. 



12 THE PROBLEM 

The organism is indirectly affected. For does 
not every organ carry on its usual functions, just 
as in the waking period, save as influenced by con- 
ditions which can plainly account for the differ- 
ences? All the secretions are decreased in quan- 
tity, save under special conditions ; peristalsis is 
lessened; the respiratory movements are fewer 
in number and less abdominal because not so in- 
tense; the heart beats are less rapid and not so 
full; the pupils are contracted, and if the lethargy 
is deep enough insensitive to light; the inferior 
recti are relaxed. But, what is of more impor- 
tance, under strong stimuli the pupils dilate slight- 
ly, and in the inverse proportion to the depth of 
sleep. Yet while the muscular system in general 
is relaxed, the sphincters are in a state of greater 
contraction than during the waking period, except 
under peculiar circumstances which can be ac- 
counted for. 

What is of the utmost importance is the circu- 
lation in the brain in the waking as compared with 
the sleeping state. Every experiment showed a 
decrease in the circulation during sleep, yet to just 
what extent I could not definitely determine, 
though several different methods were tried. 
There was one result, however, which though very 
unsatisfactory in definite results was highly inter- 
esting: the depth of sleep depended upon the 
amount 'of blood to the encephalon, or in other 
words, the depth of sleep varied inversely as the 



THE PEOBLEM 13 

blood-supply up to a certain point, beyond that 
palpitation of the heart followed rapidly, and as 
a result the brain was flushed and in a short time 
waking ensued, thus causing the familiar "Night- 
mare," which is in reality only the beginning of 
the throes of death, but whose spell is broken by 
nervous energy being directed toward the muscu- 
lar system as convulsions, which in turn increase 
the circulation reflexly, which arouses the sleeper 
from his lethargy. For the sleeper is helpless till 
touched, or till the convulsions cause the limbs to 
come in contact with some object, thus causing a 
sensation to reflexly influence the blood-flow. 

Yet I could never predict from the lessened 
amount just when the palpitation would begin, ex- 
cept by certain precursory signs. And though no 
two individuals were precisely alike, I never could 
decide just why they differed, or in what the dif- 
ference consisted. For the body weight never had 
any definite ratio to the amount of blood that went 
to the brain ; yet the relative intellectual tidal wave 
was constant for each individual, and directly pro- 
portional to the body weight, though inversely as 
the weight of blood compared to weight of body. 

Many of my patients would talk or cry in sleep, 
and once one arose from his bed at midnight, and 
went out into a field to find an object he had lost 
the day before, and for which he had sought in 
vain. Finding the object he placed it under the 
doorstep and quietly went to bed. But on the 



14 THE PBOBLEM 

following morning he knew nothing of his actions 
of the night before ; and when told to look under 
the step for the object, was surprised on finding it 
there. It is true this patient was not in good 
health at the time; but Somnambulism is not a 
symptom of bad health. His actions so aroused 
my curiosity that I determined to observe this 
patient more closely than was my wont with pa- 
tients .out of town. So under pretense that he 
needed observation for several days, I returned 
regularly every night for a week or more, with 
instructions in the meantime that he be not allowed 
to sleep during the day. But nothing unusual 
occurred. 

However, having to pass that way several days 
later, I entered the house to inquire about his 
health. It was night, and he had retired to bed; 
but the rest of the family sat about the centre 
table reading. They told me that he was in his 
normal state of health, and that nothing out of 
the ordinary had occurred since I was there last. 
So I determined to return without disturbing his 
slumber, when, to my surprise, the door opened 
and he stood in the doorway partly dressed. I, 
supposing him to be awake and coming out to see 
me because he had heard my voice, advanced 
toward him, intending to greet him, when one of 
his sons said, "He is asleep !" 

For a moment I could hardly contain myself, not 
from fear or excitement, but from anxiety lest he 



THE PROBLEM 15 

might awake and thus spoil my further observa- 
tions ; for he looked directly at me, and I observed 
that his pupils contracted as he advanced into the 
brightly lighted room. Yet I have no evidence 
that he saw anything. And even before I could 
motion to them in the room to be still, he pro- 
ceeded to a stand where a pitcher of water usually 
sat, and taking it up continued to the table where 
the glasses were, filled one with water and then 
replaced the pitcher. But before he returned to 
the glass I had taken it away and placed an empty 
one in its stead. It made no difference to him, 
however, for he put it to his lips as though in the 
act of drinking, yet he did not swallow; and in a 
moment he replaced the glass and proceeded 
toward the door. So far I had seen nothing new. 
For I knew he would take up and drink from the 
empty glass, yet I determined to watch and see 
what he would do further. 

His eyes were shut, yet he walked out of the 
door as deliberately as if he were awake. We 
followed him. He hesitated a moment just outside 
the doorway, and, putting up his hand, took hold 
of the column which supported the roof at the 
head of the steps leading to the ground. He hesi- 
tated again, and appeared to be balancing himself 
before attempting to descend the stair. I motioned 
for one of his sons to bring my hat, for I thought 
he would walk into the field again. He walked 
down the stair-way, and while I was waiting for 



16 THE PROBLEM 

my hat, turned to the end of the steps, and to my 
utter astonishment, stooped and began to feel 
along the ground with his hands as though he had 
lost his bearing in the darkness. Yet the moon 
shone brightly, though he was in the shadow of the 
house while bending down. I could not compre- 
hend the cause or meaning of such actions, so de- 
termined to call him gently, or lead him back into 
the house and have him put to bed again. 

But my curiosity overcame my regard for his 
feelings and I stood observing him. He stopped a 
moment, and then went over the same actions 
again. This time, however, I saw that his hands 
went under the step instead of against it as I had 
at first supposed. After a moment he seemed 
to hesitate, and for several seconds was per- 
fectly still. But the mask-like expression on his 
face told me nothing of what was going on in his 
mind. Yet had he been awake I doubt not there 
would have been an expression of perplexity, or 
uncertainty, or embarrassment, for I was sure he 
sought the object he had placed there several 
nights before in his sleep. He stopped still a 
second time, and stood motionless. But we said 
not a word ; while the sleeping man and his shadow 
seemed a part of the hill, standing there motion- 
less in the bright moonlight. After standing a 
moment, he again walked to the top of the stairs 
and seating himself on the steps, crossed his legs, 
then pulled one knee upward, with his fingers 



THE PROBLEM 17 

crossed in front of it. The masklike expression, 
motionless and silent, could not but appear as a 
dead man sitting there in the moonlight. After 
a few minutes in silence, which seemed longer to 
me, for I had grown tired of standing, he arose and 
re-entered the door. As he stood in the room a 
moment the dog came trotting in ; he appeared to 
look at him, for he turned his head in that direc- 
tion whence came the sound of the foot-falls of the 
animal on the light matting. Yet I could not de- 
tect any change in the expression of the mask-like 
face before me, though I placed my face close to 
his in order the better to observe his eye and note 
the expression. Yet to me, in the lamplight, they 
were as expressionless as his face, or as his shoul- 
der would have been. 

He then went to a desk which stood in a corner 
of the room, unlocked it, the key by chance being 
in the keyhole, pulled down the writing leaf, seated 
himself in front of it, and after seeming to rest a 
moment, took out some sheets of writing paper 
from a drawer, and taking a pencil from its accus- 
tomed place began to set down a column of figures. 
After he had written eight figures he hesitated 
again. I now thought it my time to act, so I 
slipped the sheet from under his hand. This was 
done so quietly that it did not disturb him in the 
least. For in a moment he began to set down more 
figures, as I had expected, and then making a line 
under them proceeded to add them. His hand 



18 THE PROBLEM 

rested on the paper in such a manner that I could 
not, or dared not, make the attempt to remove it 
lest I disturb him and thus spoil my observations. 
So we quietly waited to see what he would do next. 
We did not have long to wait, for in a moment he 
replaced the pencil, folded the paper and after 
placing it in one of the pigeon holes of the desk 
closed the lid. But I had stolen the key from the 
keyhole while he was writing. He seemed to hesi- 
tate again, but only for a moment, then calmly and 
deliberately rubbing his fingers over the key-hole 
several times, slowly went to bed, closing the door 
after him as he entered the bedroom. I took down 
the paper whereon he had been writing. There 
was nothing to be seen but some disorderly figures. 

Giving instructions that he be not disturbed, but 
for some one to watch lest he begin again his 
nightly rambles unobserved and do himself bodily 
harm, and especially that no mention whatever 
be made of what had taken place in the past sev- 
eral hours, I took my departure, promising to 
return the following morning. 

It was ten o 'clock in the morning ere I reached 
his home in my rounds to my patients. He sat on 
the porch quietly smoking, and greeted me as 
usual as I ascended the stair and took a seat beside 
him. I thought by my conversation to find out, 
without allowing him to know my purpose, whether 
he had any recollection of the occurrences of the 
night before. Nearly his first words were, "It has 



THE PROBLEM 19 

been several days since you were here." I replied, 
"I came by to let you know the amount of my 
bill," for I wished a pretext to show him the fig- 
ures of the night before to see whether he would 
recognize them. So, saying "Let me get paper," 
I went to the desk and in a moment returned with 
the sheets where he had placed them the night 
before. After conversing a few minutes I boldly 
handed him the sheets, saying as I did so, "Is this 
your work T ' ' Glancing at it he said : ' 6 That is my 
handwriting, but they have no meaning whatever ; 
for though the first two figures are correct when 
subtracted they are so no further. And they are 
not added." It then occurred to me that the fig- 
ures on the other sheet must be taken into consid- 
eration; for I had been thrown off my guard by 
the first two figures seeming to be subtracted, 
which were correct as far as they went. Without 
saying another word, for my curiosity was so 
aroused by this that I did not care whether he 
knew I had been present the night before, I delib- 
erately placed the figures from the other sheet 
above the one he had just said was not his work 
and added them. The total was correct. 

In this case the subject when asleep could see, 
for he appeared to see well enough to avoid the 
chair which I purposely placed in front of him; 
could feel, hear, and calculate. Yet at times he 
did not see, for his eyes were not open; and his 
moral sense was wanting, for he was usually most 



20 THE PROBLEM 

fastidious in his dress while awake. But, what is 
of most interest, he seemed perplexed when dis- 
appointed and baffled, so far as an expressionless 
face can tell, and what one would conclude from 
his actions. But it would he hard to say what were 
the sensations or emotions going on in that brain 
to bring about such actions as the rubbing on the 
keyhole because the key that should have been in 
its accustomed place was not there. Yet it is 
enough at present for us to keep in mind that the 
taking away of the key caused that action. And 
does not the very gist of his whole conduct show 
what in the waking state would be known as Pur- 
pose, yet purpose influenced by former .actions? 

These thoughts, and the events of the few min- 
utes I was there, so excited me that, without 
another word I set out for my laboratory, where I 
could find quiet and time to learn what these ob- 
servations had to teach me. 

Once in my room, and with instructions to the 
servant to keep off intruders at all hazards, I 
seated myself to collect my thoughts and allow 
them to tell me the story of my patient's actions. 
And now that I was in a mood for thinking 
and intensely interested withal, a flood of ques- 
tions came crowding into my mind, all seeking 
entrance together. Composing myself by pacing 
the room for several minutes, I determined to tab- 
ulate the questions as they presented themselves, 
and then work them out at my leisure. So seating 



THE PROBLEM 21 

myself with tablet and pencil, the following oc- 
curred to me: May not the circulation, as in- 
fluenced bjrthe different organs, have an impor- 
tant relation to dreams? Admitting that to be 
so, how can I determine the truth of such a propo- 
sition? What is the relation of sleep to dreaming? 
Does it take place only during imperfect sleep? 
Is it dependent on sleep as a bodily condition? 

No, I reasoned ; yet, for each individual there is 
a relative degree, or -magnitude for each state ; 
one waking, one sleeping ; so that what to one in- 
dividual would be a waking to another would be a 
sleeping dream, that is as relating to the dream 
itself. Do we then dream all the time, but are 
cognizant of it only between certain periods, or, to 
be more definite, can remember it only between 
certain periods, the periods between sleeping and 
waking, and between waking and sleeping? Is 
there any reason why it should be limited to these 
periods? Or does it relate to certain periods of 
sleep, or to the depth of sleep? It cannot relate 
to time, so it must relate to a condition of the 
body ; or in other words, to the circulation through 
certain nervous centres. If that be the fact, can 
we not dream while soundly sleeping, provided the 
circulation be such as to excite certain centres? 
Assuredly that would be the conclusion any one 
would come to ; yet how can it be proven that such 
is the fact, physically? 

And if one dreams all the time, during sleep, 



22 THE PEOBLEM 

and surely it would be hard to prove the contrary 
by positive knowledge, there must be a conscious 
centre; and it must be also that all the other, or 
nearly all the other centres can be excited without 
exciting that centre. For surely we are not con- 
scious of dreaming all the time. And if it be ans- 
wered that we do not remember what we have 
dreamed always, the reply would appear to* be, 
that the memory centre was not excited. This is 
being altogether too definite concerning something 
the vagueness of which is proverbial. So I left 
that line of thought with the mental remark: "It 
may be true, but unless I have some physical proof 
for it, how can I know it positively?" 

This naturally made me turn to the results of the 
process to learn what I had not been a;ble to find 
out from the positive side. So I asked: "Can the 
absence of the Will, or at least, the loss of its 
control over the thinking faculties, explain the 
phenomena? For though there be no time nor 
space, and no subjective determination in dreams, 
yet is not the whole mentality of man aside from 
that perfectly reproduced, though more or less 
faintly or dimly in some of its phases? And since 
even ours are only relative lives so far as time and 
space are concerned; so surely there could be a 
dream-life which would be essentially different 
from this so far as it related to time and space. 
And will not this also explain how we do not re- 
member all, but only part, of what we dream, 



THE PROBLEM 23 

admitting for the moment that we dream all the 
time during sleep, and also, why are we only partly 
conscious, and that only at short intervals of 
time?" 

Yet when we say the Will has lost its control, 
we speak of only part of the very process which 
we are trying to explain. But one result all agree 
in : that the sleeper no longer fully adapts himself 
to his environment. And is not this a clue to the 
explanation sought? In the waking state the Ego 
is dominant and active, in sleep wholly passive. 
But here again a part of the process is taken to 
explain the very process itself. Though this read- 
ily explains one phase of dreaming, namely, the 
untrammeled play of the imagination, yet it com- 
pletely fails to explain most of the other phenom- 
ena. But must not the solution of this problem, 
from the standpoint of our present knowledge, be 
attacked from at least two sides, the subjective 
and the objective, the psychological and the 
physiological? I say, from the standpoint of 
our present knowledge, for as yet there has been 
very little positive knowledge, very little experi- 
mental knowledge of the phenomena of dreams. 
So let me at least be more positive in my search, 
though I be checked more decidedly in my prog- 
ress. 

Though the innumerable images which make up 
the ever-varying flood of a dream on a first view 
appear to come from the recesses of the mind 



24 THE PEOBLEM 

itself, yet only a little attention to the facts shows 
plainly that there is always at least a physical re- 
lation to every image that arises. But is this 
a causal, or a concomitant relation? Here I was 
puzzled for quite a while, hut after looking over 
some of my papers I at last came to one by a class- 
mate, wherein he had tabulated some observations 
on the dreamings of his bedfellow. In this case 
he could change the trend of the dreamer's dream 
by whispering into his ear the topic or thought 
desired. So here surely it is purely causal. 

In the case of the sleeper above, all of his 
actions were the result of antecedent physical re- 
lations ; yet in my patient, who was affected with 
nightmare, I could never determine positively 
whether the stragglings, the grimaces and the be- 
ginnings of that shrunken appearance too plainly 
signalling the approach of death, had a mental 
concomitant or a causal relation to the phenom- 
enon. Yet the poor woman would always say, "I 
knew how I was, but could not awake myself. Why 
did you not touch me?'" Yet time after time I 
would let her have it out in order to learn the cause 
and effect of it on her physically and mentally. 
But there was such a crowd of phenomena going 
on amid the convulsions and writhings, that I could 
never determine which was cause and which was 
effect. Yet once, but once only, when I saw it ap- 
proaching, for at all other times it was fully on her 
and only by her stragglings would it attract my at- 



THE PROBLEM 25 

tention, there was a quivering of the lips, then the 
nostrils dilated, the eyeballs rolled upward, the 
head bent backward and to one side, the throbbing 
temples, the gasping respiration and shrunken 
features covered with a cold sweat, told only too 
plainly that something unusual was taking place 
in that frame. I was afraid to touch her in order 
to learn the state of the circulation for fear of 
waking her and thus spoiling my observations. 
And, so far as her knowledge of the phenomena is 
concerned, the deluded one "knew" only at the 
moment of waking; but those moments were 
enough to tell her as much as whole hours in the 
ordinary waking state. 

Now these conditions, even the horrors of the 
terrible nightmare must come under two heads; 
yet not in the sense that the two are separable, 
for it is only one condition of the body, but two in 
name: (a) a bodily condition, (b) memory (asso- 
ciation). The first as the primary cause, the 
second as the director of the result, yet requiring 
both to constitute what we call dreaming; the first 
causing a stimulation of the blood-supply to cer- 
tain centres of the brain, which in turn arouses the 
most recent or the most vivid impressions, which 
in turn are directed from one to another by asso- 
ciation; the former arising from the periphery, 
the latter from the encephalon; the one usually 
from the internal organs, viz., the organs of diges- 
tion ; the other along the most unstable nerve ele- 



26 THE PROBLEM 

ments, e. g., the most recent impressions, or the 
most used channels, as the most accustomed habits. 

Yet by experiment it was plainly shown that 
though the internal organs are the source of 
dreams, as after a full meal of indigestible food, 
yet any excitement may cause dreams of differ- 
ent significance, depending altogether upon the 
character of the stimulation and of the part stimu- 
lated. Thus, one patient constantly dreamed of 
having lost his hat, if his head was uncovered in 
cold weather; he would do this over and over 
again, though with ever-varying dream pictures 
associated. In this case he would be influenced not 
only by the condition of the body bringing about 
the dream, but it also appeared to be a habit 
within itself, a dream-habit, for this patient to 
dream of having lost his hat; for often he would 
dream the dream without any apparent cause. 

Our "dream-fancies" are only a vast congeries 
of new cerebrations brought about by association, 
after the process is once begun by some external 
stimulation. This also explains why one remem- 
bers in a dream what he dreamed in a former 
dream; the links of association not restoring the 
idea in the waking state. But can this explain 
why we see in our dreams ? Surely, this must be 
by association also. While awake we see our 
friend and hear his voice ; we cannot but blend the 
two sensations into one in our mental estimate of 
what is before us, so that when we hear that voice 



THE PBOBLEM 27 

the visual image again arises. While awake, at- 
tention places the image in the background, hut 
while asleep the attention is powerless to thus con- 
trol the action of the nerve process, so that the 
vividness may be even more distinct than when the 
real image is before the eye. And thus with 
dreams as a whole after the process is once begun, 
and so long as the stimulation is kept up. 

Another patient asserted that he often dreamed 
of dreaming. Yet he stated that the dream-dream 
was no more vivid or characteristic than an ordin- 
ary dream, but harder to recollect, and seeming 
more remote as if in an entirely different sphere, 
an entirely different world. That, however, would 
be the only consequence of placing anything more 
remote in time or space, and we have no proof 
that it was anything more than an ordinary dream. 
And in truth, how could it be more? For when 
we look at all mental processes, we see, plainly 
and at once, that even our most vivid impressions, 
even our most positive knowledge, is only relative ; 
and only known as one unknown placed in the 
midst of a world of other unknowns, each less 
known than the other, till they fade away into the 
region of the unthinkable, the region of the in- 
sensible. 

So, after all, it is only the relations of life that 
to us are quasi positively known; and the great 
world of facts must remain ever before us a sea of 
mystery. And yet this mystery itself is no less 



28 THE PROBLEM 

real, no less physical, than the very hills, the very 
stones, the ocean and the clouds and the stars that 
surround us on every hand ; nothing can be more 
real, nothing exist more positively. They can 
never be separated; for can we separate an object 
from its shadow? For what we know is only the 
shadow of what is. 

But to return to our subject. The patient 
seemed to be in another world simply because of 
the absence of the sine qua non of so-called Con- 
sciousness, that is memory. For we are never 
conscious of what we are, but of what we have 
been. So when we say we remember a dream, we 
do not remember it in the same sense as we do 
the other mentalities of our waking life ; but one of 
two conditions must be present for us to bring 
back again the impressions, or in other words to 
arouse again the images that impressed them- 
selves on the brain substance ; the first is, we must 
be aroused at the moment when the circulation is 
active in the part, or in other words when the very 
dream itself is being formed; or by association, 
that is the image is aroused by the senses bringing 
in some of the objects of the dream which by sug- 
gestion usually renews the whole dream. 

Now to explain this more fully, let us take what 
is called Habit. As is well known, habit is only 
the repetition of certain acts till they are done 
more or less unconsciously, the sensations travel- 
ling along certain channels until it can or does go 



THE PROBLEM 29 

that way as the way of least resistance, by mere 
physical conditions; exactly as much so as that 
water flowing along a certain channel will widen 
and deepen its bed; the one is fully as physical, as 
material, as the other. And just as the course 
and depth of the channel is in a great measure or 
totally under the sway of what were the external 
conditions of the channel itself, so is it with what 
we call thinking, or our whole mentality. "We 
cannot do then what we please within ourselves? 
— are not then free even in our thoughts V 9 Pre- 
cisely so. 

To be more explicit, let us see what makes up 
what is called our mental life taken as a whole. 
TTe take an individual at midnight ; he lies sleep- 
ing soundly in his bed ; surely no dreams trouble 
him now, none that we are aware of, or that he 
has any memory of ordinarily; he sleeps till the 
sound of the whistle of some distant engine, or the 
alarm-clock which he has to arouse him, or perhaps 
it is a struggling ray of sunlight that has found 
its way through a break in the shutter comes to 
bring him back to the conscious world; he finds 
himself in bed ; he sees by the light that it is day 
again; his sleep is satisfied; he arises from bed 
because of that, or because of some remembered 
duty to be performed ; he finds that he is not yet 
dressed ; so he proceeds to dress in his usual man- 
ner, precisely as on the morning before, pulling 
on the same shoe first, lacing it, tying it precisely 



30 THE PEOBLEM 

as on the morning before, thus with the whole 
process just as he learned it years before. He walks 
into the hall because the door leads there; the 
breakfast calls, he answers ; he eats because he is 
hungry; goes to his business purely on account of 
some promise to be kept ; he walks the same side- 
walk purely from habit; and goes through his ac- 
customed duties almost unconsciously, in fact he 
was hardly aware of time till the whistle at noon 
told him of the hour to dine. He eats because he 
is hungry again, or merely from habit ; reads, per- 
haps, or passes the time in amusement till sleepy 
again; he returns to the bedroom; takes off his 
clothing in a certain definite order as on the night 
before, and as he has been doing for years; gets 
into bed, and is soon sleeping again. We will 
watch him till midnight. The circle is completed. 
Now multiply this by three hundred and sixty-five, 
and that by three score and ten, and the great 
circle is completed. To which action can the 
boasted "Freedom of the Will" be applied? 

And this brings us back again to sleep itself; for 
we have only been comparing the relations of the 
mental activities of the sleeping to the mental 
activities of the waking state. 

As is well known, certain plants bend their 
petioles and close their flowers at certain times of 
day ; and no doubt all plants are influenced by the 
changes in the solar radiation, though not so ap- 
parent to our senses, as well as the terrestrial 



THE PROBLEM 31 

revolutions which need hardly be mentioned, so 
well known is it that this is the sole cause of plants 
growing in their "natural" positions. There is 
no reason to believe that during the "sleep of 
plants" the relative changes are fundamentally 
different from those that take .place during the 
waking period save in degree. And yet that plants 
"sleep" no one has ever yet had the boldness to 
deny; and has any one the boldness to deny that 
that sleep is totally meaningless? The meaning 
of which we will see later on. 

It need hardly be added that the whole animal 
world, so far as our observations extend, sleeps at 
certain periods, commensurate with their environ- 
ment, life history and organization. What then is 
sleep ? A question easily asked and perhaps were 
the process continued far enough we could in a 
degree know how to answer it more definitely. Is 
it caused by fatigue of the nervous system? "Were 
it no more than that, what an easy explanation of 
all that we have said before. But will that explain 
the most prominent symptom of sleep, loss of con- 
sciousness? No ! For if it did we could never say 
we were fatigued; besides, there are some states 
or conditions in which we are nearly exhausted, 
yet sleep is not produced. Is it the result of the 
want of Oxygen? For it is well known that the 
amount of Oxygen, heat and Carbon Dioxide vary 
sreatly during sleep. But is the supply of Oxygen 
less during the day or while the animal sleeps? 



/ 



32 THE PKOBLEM 

We can only reply, no. To what one phenomenon 
do all our facts point as we approach from the 
various sides so far as sleep itself is concerned? 
There is only one reply : diminished excitability of 
the nerve-centres, the cerebral most relatively. 

We come, then, at last, haltingly and uncer- 
tain though it may at times appear, to the solution 
of the problem; sleep is the diminished excita- 
bility of the cerebral nerve-centres, with the con- 
comitant loss of consciousness. 

Days, weeks and months passed. And I had 
concluded that the oscillations of vital activity in 
the animal organism are not correlated a:s effect 
and cause to the terrestrial revolutions, but that 
the parallelism is inherent in Life itself, and not 
varied by the conditions influencing the organism 
day by day. And yet I could not rest in that ; for 
though it seemed on first appearance plausible 
enough, still there were many pertinent facts to 
be explained, facts as broad and far reaching in 
their bearing on the animal organism as sleep it- 
self. However, if I cannot trust my own reason- 
ings drawn from facts, which all who look can see, 
every day on every side, what must I do ? Other- 
wise, undoubtedly, this problem is to remain for- 
ever unsolved, at least by me. And is it to forever 
remain an endless series of problems ever rising 
one above the other before the race ? No ; for if 
we continue to follow it step by step we will surely 
come finally to the end of the series. For we are 



THE PROBLEM 33 

undoubtedly making progress, and only time can 
answer the particular question, whether it is to be 
an endless series of problems. 

At last, as said above, I had come to a conclu- 
sion, had come to a conclusion that was borne out 
by every fact of which I was cognizant; and in 
that conclusion I might have rested until now, 
though continually questioning myself in regard 
to it, and collecting all manner of facts that could 
possibly have a bearing on the subject. But one 
day as the workmen were repairing the wall of my 
cellar which had fallen, in breaking open a large 
rock they discovered a frog. It was brought up 
to me immediately, to where I was working in my 
laboratory. I examined the animal. It was still 
alive. It was, undoubtedly, the ordinary marsh 
frog, Rana halecina. I went to the cellar and ex- 
amined the stone. It was the ordinary sand-stone, 
silicious, with a hardness approaching that of 
quartz rock. There was the frog, and there was 
the stone. The workmen, five of them, averred 
that the frog came out of the stone. And there 
was a cavity near the centre of the stone which 
corresponded roughly to the outline of the frog. 

I examined the cavity more carefully. There 
was the imprint of the frog in the hard stone as 
if it were soft wax. I placed the frog in the cavity 
and then adjusted the stones as they were origin- 
ally. They fitted perfectly. I then examined the 
cavity more closely. There was certainly hard 



34 THE PROBLEM 

rock on all sides of it; and it was of a somewhat 
different color, growing darker as it approached 
the cavity. Within, the cavity was as smooth as 
the skin on the frog's back; and the whole space 
was considerably larger than the body of the ani- 
mal. Guided by one of the workmen, and taking a 
piece of the stone from which the frog was said to 
have come, to prevent deception, I was soon at the 
quarry. There were hundreds of stones of exactly 
similar composition to the one I had in my hand. 
Without allowing the men at the quarry to know 
my purpose, I asked them if they had sent stones 
as described to the workmen named. They replied 
in the affirmative, and pointed out to me the exact 
spot whence the stone came. That was what I 
desired to know from them. 

Knowing it to be exactly eight and one-quarter 
miles to the falls above the city, and that this was 
the same stratum of rock that forms the falls ; and 
by governmental statistics that the falls cuts its 
way through the rock at the rate of one and a 
fourth inch per annum ; by a very simple calcula- 
tion it followed that this frog must have been at 
this location when the falls was this far down the 
river, which was no less than 392,040 years ago. 

Of course, I could not feel assured that this was 
the fact ; for I did not examine the rock before it 
was opened and did not see positively that the frog 
was in it. But admitting it to be true, what does 
it mean? Does it mean that one animal can sleep 



THE PEOBLEM 35 

392,040 years, while the remainder of the individ- 
uals of the animal kingdom sleep only a few hours? 
Does it mean that this animal has lived 392,040 
years, while the remainder of the individuals of 
the animal kingdom, so far as any facts to the 
contrary show, have lived only a few years? For 
this frog is yet alive; and if he came out of that 
stone he must necessarily be as old as the stone, 
which was formed around him ; and the stone is as 
old as the length of time which has elapsed since 
its formation; which from the above calculation 
must be 392,040 years. However much older it 
may be — for these cliffs two hundred and fifty 
feet high above it, and the valley twelve miles 
wide at this point and eight hundred miles to the 
sea, which have been carried away by the river 
before it began to cut through the rock in which 
the frog was supposed to have been — I dare not 
attempt to estimate. But this occurrence directed 
my thoughts toward hibernation in animals in its 
relation to sleep. 

If hibernation and sleep are the same state, but 
brought about by different conditions, surely the 
study of the adaptability of the animal organism 
to so-called abnormal conditions has been neglected 
by biologists in the past. But the word "abnor- 
mal," like "unnatural," is a meaningless term; 
for nothing is really abnormal, and nothing can 
be unnatural. This led me to study anew the ani- 
mal organism, especially in its relations to so- 



36 THE PBOBLEM 

called abnormal conditions; and because I had a 
ready supply of animals, I began with the frog. 

It was soon seen that the pet frogs which I 
kept in my laboratory did not hibernate as they 
had done before ; for instead they would crawl out 
of their holes every evening and bask in the heat 
of the radiator. But this was probably on account 
of the noise, and the light that continually glared 
in my laboratory. What is of y more interest, 
however, a friend having sent me a Myoxus from 
the tropics, I was quite sure the cold would kill it 
in a short time, as winter was coming on; but it 
hibernated as though its ancestors had been hiber- 
nating for untold ages. I could not explain that ; 
so concluded that the animal must have aestivated 
in the tropics. I then found that by placing the 
proper conditions around the frogs I could make 
them hibernate at will. 

The cerebrum being removed from the frog, it 
would sit upright, spring, respond to every stimu- 
lus with co-ordinated movements as usual; when 
turned on its back it would immediately turn it- 
self on its belly ; would swim when thrown into the 
water; and crawl up the side of the vessel, where 
it would remain passive; if irritated would give 
two or three springs and then remain passive 
again. In short, when stimulated all of its move- 
ments were as usual ; but when not stimulated, it 
was passive; then it sat in the same place as if 
asleep, showed no symptoms of fear, or hunger, 



THE PROBLEM 37 

or thirst, and died on the spot. When I would 
stroke its flank it would croak every time ; it would 
not spring against an object, but would jump 
against a glass as in the perfect state ; would bal- 
ance itself perfectly on a board turned in every 
direction, and not fall off as a frog without its 
spinal cord would do; it only did so, however, 
when the board was inclined, and rested as soon 
as its centre of gravity was restored. It responded 
to every stimulus, answering each with an appro- 
priate action. But what is of vastly more inter- 
est, when I would let a drop of acid fall on its 
flank it would knock it off with the appropriate 
foot of that side; if I held that foot it would 
knock it off with the next more appropriate one, 
that is with the remaining foot of that side ; but 
when I held both feet on the side that corre- 
sponded to the flank on which the acid ' was 
dropped, after struggling to release its legs it 
seemed to hesitate for a moment, and then to my 
utter astonishment, it reached around with a foot 
from the other side and knocked the acid off. It 
did this not once or twice, but on many different 
occasions. This so excited me that I could not, 
at once, go on with the experiments; I could not 
speculate as to its meaning ; I could only walk the 
floor from nervousness. I then tried somewhat 
similar experiments on various animals, but they 
gave essentially the same results ; the perceptive 
faculties, the will and memory are abolished. 



38 THE PROBLEM 

In trying to observe the circulation in the capil- 
laries of the frog's foot, through the stragglings 
of the animal it was wounded so that the blood 
escaped. After observing it for a moment I could 
plainly see the white corpuscles migrate from the 
shrunken clot within the capillary tube. Though 
I had seen this hundreds of times before, it did not 
impress me as it did then ; for they appeared pre- 
cisely like amoebae in all their forms and actions ; 
going through every phase of activity as though 
these escaped cells were organisms in themselves, 
animals, entities, individuals, separate and dis- 
tinct. This was surprising, for it appeared to be 
life within life. I then fed the frog on fat and 
watched the lymph cells take it up after it had 
passed through the epithelium cells and migrate 
with it through the tissue of the villus into the 
central lacteal, and there set it free. What is the 
meaning of this? As I look at this traffic in fat 
in the animal organism, I wonder can this be under 
the guidance of volition? Has the cell, which is 
doing this work, volition? But as I looked, and 
was asking myself these questions, the cell ceased 
its work, and looking up I saw at once that through 
neglect, I had allowed the warm stage to grow too 
hot. This led me to examine matter in the living 
state in relation to temperature. 

It was easily ascertained that the " vital tem- 
peratures' ' lie between 40° C. and 50° C. For 
protoplasm is killed by a temperature between 



THE PKOBLEM 39 

40° C. and 50° C. by the coagulation of certain 
substances of which it consists ; for after coagula- 
tion the same processes cannot take place as be- 
fore. I tried this over and over, and from almost 
every point of view, but essentially the same 
answer came back. I then heated a brainless frog 
till rigor caloris, coagulation of the muscle sub- 
stance, set in ; it was always about 40° C. It is well 
known to biologists too that certain forms of life 
under certain conditions may withstand a temper- 
ature of — 87° C. ; and the spores of fungi are not 
destroyed at 125° C, but at these temperatures the 
so-called vital processes are held in abeyance and 
the active processes only return when the tempera- 
ture is lowered or raised to about 35° C. So that 
were the temperature to remain above or below a 
certain narrow temperature-space, that force, that 
form of energy which we call vitality, must sooner 
or later cease to present this special manifesta- 
tion and be changed into other forms as heat, 
light, or electricity. 

No matter how or when the first form may have 
appeared, the conditions must have existed as they 
are for it to have continued to the present time ; 
and for it to go on through the future the present 
conditions must be perpetuated. In other words, 
the animal organism below a certain temperature 
( — 87° C) ceases to manifest vital activity, and 
above a certain temperature (50° C.) the process 
is checked also. Is not this a hard and fast line 



40 THE PROBLEM 

of demarcation, the coagulation point of proto- 
plasm ; as below a certain point a metal is a solid, 
then for another certain temperature a liquid, and 
above another certain temperature, conditions 
being the same, it is a gas? 

Time passed. And though I was working stead- 
ily and hopefully forward, yet the course of my 
thoughts were changed by a mere joke of my ser- 
vant. For one day, while dining, the servant, hav- 
ing brought in a large fowl, I remarked its size, to 
which he replied; "It is just the same as before it 
was killed." This trite remark so affected me 
that it was with difficulty that I finished my meal. 

I forthwith proceeded to secure a fowl, weigh it 
accurately while alive, then kill it and weigh it 
again. The weights were precisely the same. This 
startled me at its significance. Nothing whatever 
had escaped, or if it had it was imponderable. 

There is nothing, then, peculiar in matter itself ; 
it is only matter in two different states or condi- 
tions, the living state and the lifeless state. But 
what are these two different states? Is there any 
clear line of demarcation between these condi- 
tions? And what causes this difference of con- 
dition? Surely in regard to matter itself there is 
no distinction whatever; and in regard to life, 
there is nothing apart from matter. Living mat- 
ter is always what is known as "organized," that 
is, composed of cells, each having an entity, so 
far as the animal of which it forms a part is con- 



THE PROBLEM 41 

cerned; each having a life-history, the sum of 
which we know as Life. The more carefully I 
studied it the more clear and striking was the dis- 
tinction. And all observations show conclusively 
that living matter never arises spontaneously from 
lifeless matter, but always through the direct in- 
fluence of living matter already existing. How 
closely they are related only a moment's reflection 
will show. And yet in just what that relationship 
consists was matter of more thought. Our bodies, 
along with the bodies of all other organisms, are 
made up of matter in both states — living and life- 
less ; not only on the exterior, as hairs, nails, epi- 
dermis, etc., but it permeates the whole organism. 
So that we are made up of a congeries of cells, 
some of which are formed of matter wholly in the 
lifeless state, others less so, and others still less, 
till we finally arrive at the contents of the indi- 
vidual active cells, which may be called at present 
"living* ' matter. Into this congeries of cells a 
stream of matter is continually flowing (food) ; 
which after remaining a time is again set free. Af- 
ter it enters the organism it becomes a part of that 
organism ; in other words, it becomes ' ' organized. ' ' 
And is not that the distinction between "living" 
matter and non-living matter? (For we saw above 
that matter in itself is the same.) 

Just as the whirlpool, taking particles of water, 
whirls them for a moment, then leaving them for- 
ever ; but while they are in the whirlpool they are 



42 THE PROBLEM 

certainly under a different influence from the 
great body of water around them ; and the whirl- 
ing mass we call a "whirlpool." But surely there 
is nothing in the whirlpool that differs from the 
waves around it, except a difference in the direc- 
tion of the energy, and the difference that neces- 
sarily follows in the shape — or the concomitant 
difference of form. It is true that different forces 
arise, for certainly some of the particles are under 
what is known as a centrifugal force, etc. While 
these different phenomena of form, directions and 
force are taking place, the whirlpool, for a time, 
continues to remain the same "individual." We 
know, too, that it came into existence from definite 
causes — causes that existed outside itself, and 
over which it had no control, and no power of 
directing after it once came into being; and after 
the forces that created it "individual" expend 
themselves, the whirlpool vanishes into nothing- 
ness ; overwhelmed by the forces driving the river 
forward, the very forces that created it. 

But, it may be objected, the whirlpool is made 
up of the same number of elements as the waves 
around it, while only a few of the elements go 
toward the formation of the organism from among 
a much greater number; the proteids being com- 
plex compounds of 0, H, C, N, S, and perhaps P, 
all notable for their peculiar chemical properties ; 
the organism has, too, the power of growth, and of 



THE PBOBLEM 43 

reproducing its like ; the whirlpool was formed as 
a whole; the organism grew from within. 

Is the whirlpool then an organism without the 
power of reproducing itself? The question at 
first appeared so ridiculous that I could hardly re- 
frain from laughing. But the more I thought on 
it the more relevant it became. For it is easy to 
be seen that the whirlpool can not reproduce its 
like; but when we ask, does the organism repro- 
duce its like, though on first appearances it seems 
an easily decided question, yet the more we think 
on it the more intricate it becomes ; till finally we 
must conclude that an organism reproduces its 
like just as a large whirlpool produces smaller ones 
when it divides into smaller, that is, by the same 
force that gave the qua si-individuality to the or- 
ganism. If that be true, then, the organism has no 
more individuality than the whirlpool. Here 
again I could hardly refrain from laughing at the 
absurdities my self-questionings had led me into. 
But the more I thought on this the more truth I 
saw there was in it till I was chagrined to have to 
admit to myself that the whirlpool has an indi- 
viduality, while the organism has none. 

This comparison, this conclusion so delighted 
me that I heaved a sigh of relief ; and for once was 
content to rest from that never-before-quiet curi- 
osity which had been goading me on. To look at 
all nature as being clear and distinct; to see the 
individuals around me leading lives regulated by 



44 THE PROBLEM 

laws, that forever separate them from the world 
of matter in its non-living state ; to see the stars 
pursuing their accustomed courses, never varying 
in the least, but with unerring precision filling the 
laws as prescribed to them by their nature; to see 
our whole social fabric built up on essentially the 
same great plan of fixed and prescribed laws ; to 
see, to feel that the great immutability that per- 
vades all space does not cease with this body, but 
reigns in that inner world as unvarying, as clear 
and distinct, as fixed and immutable as in the outer 
world which I had been so long trying and study- 
ing ; it could not but fill me with awe ; it could not 
but make me almost glorify the great moving sys- 
tem itself, to think that all these were placed 
around me that I might have the pleasure of con- 
templating them and thus broaden my very exist- 
ence. 

Days, weeks and months passed. And though 
I went to my laboratory every day, spending the 
greater part of my time there, it was purely from 
habit that I continued to work as eagerly as ever, 
to add fact upon fact to that chain; continued to 
bring proof after proof in confirmation of the con- 
clusion to which I had at last come, by so much 
severe and continuous labor. Though I had lost 
none of the enthusiasm, none of the accuracy which 
had distinguished me while at school, one thing 
had ceased, the one essential thing that had separ- 
ated me, had cut me off almost entirely from my 



THE PKOBLEM 45 

fellow men: that eternal gnawing at my vitals, 
that never ceasing desire to know all things, that 
restless longing to press all questions to their ul- 
timate conclusions, that never ceasing curiosity, 
that perpetual inquisitiveness. So that for the 
first time in my life I began to feel myself a deni- 
zen of earth; began to feel that though all my 
former life had been as a foreigner in a foreign 
land; had been a mere spectator of other men's 
actions, ambitions and aspirations; now was I 
come to be as one among them ; seeing life as they 
see it, looking upon being as they look upon it, 
and feeling toward the great problem of exist- 
ence as they feel. For had I not come to the con- 
clusion that the world has always been just as we 
see it, and that it will always remain as it now is 
so far as it concerns all animated existence? Else 
why is it the nature of protoplasm to show its pe- 
culiar manifestations only between certain narrow 
limits of temperature ; why is it that these pecu- 
liar manifestations are forever bound in by nar- 
row and distinct limits of space for each and every 
individual ; and finally why is it that the cycles of 
these peculiar manifestations are forever bound in 
by narrow and distinct limits of time for each and 
every individual, though diverse and manifold in 
their actions and reactions upon each other? 

Though I worked on and on, as I said above, 
for I could not stop; for my ancestors had been 
physicians like myself, thinking that all is not 



46 THE PEOBLEM 

yet known about this great world we see around 
us, and that the men of past generations have only 
been paving the way that we may go higher in the 
world of knowledge; yet I was not precisely the 
same that I had been ; for how could I be, if I had 
come to feel myself as one among the thousands 
around me, who are content to accept the dogmas 
of others without a single question? 

One day as I entered my laboratory I noticed 
that the aquarium in which were kept several 
varieties of shrimp had dried almost completely, 
so that the several different compartments (which 
before had separated the different genera), sus- 
tained by the water, had given way, so that now 
all were together in the bottom of the main aquar- 
ium. The water was intensely brackish for them 
to live in, yet they were thriving as usual. And 
when I proceeded to separate, so as to assort them, 
as they had been before they had been neglected, 
I could find but one variety, where before there 
had been several. This astonished me, for I knew 
not before that this special genus, that remained 
in the aquarium, devoured others. But there was 
the proof; for before where there had been several 
genera there was now but one genus remaining. 

When the servant came in I censured him se- 
verely for allowing the water to evaporate and 
thus bring about the accident, causing the loss of 
several rare genera of shrimp which had cost me 
much trouble and time to collect from far different 



THE PROBLEM 47 

quarters. But the poor fellow replied that I had 
continually cautioned him not to interfere with 
anything in the laboratory. I retorted that any- 
one should know enough to keep water in the 
aquaria. A few days later two friends made me a 
visit. They thought it a capital discovery that 
these certain genera of shrimp had been devoured 
by the one genus yet remaining in the aquarium, 
and pressed upon me to publish my discovery in 
the Journal. But I could only reply that I had 
not watched the process as it proceeded, so did 
not feel justified in publishing what I was not 
quite sure of; besides, I could find no remains in 
the water of the aquarium. 

This harassed, vexed me exceedingly. For in- 
stead of resting in that conclusion I had come to, 
some time past; instead of allowing me to remain 
steadfast in a certainty, which I had gradually 
worked up to, and which was acquiesced in by all 
my scientific contemporaries, it aroused again that 
craving of other days; it gave a new impetus to 
that eternal gnawing at my vitals, that for weeks 
had only remained dormant, to break out afresh 
with redoubled vigor. 

I became morose, moody; and a melancholy 
settled around me that frightened even my old 
servant. For in my solitary walks the old habit 
of soliloquizing came again, and with a persistency 
that astonished me, for even when in the company 
of strangers I would often catch myself in the 



48 THE PEOBLEM 

midst of a long monologue; and more than once I 
was drenched in a shower of rain as I strolled 
about the grounds observing my outdoor experi- 
ments, so deeply absorbed in thought that I was 
totally oblivious to the world of action around me. 
A deep brooding melancholy had settled about me, 
a melancholy I had never known before ; for now I 
was harassed, at once, from two quarters : I must 
give up entirely all hope of ever having that satis- 
faction which I see on every side of me in the 
great mass of humanity; must forego that ease 
and contentment that has ever been the chief char- 
acteristic of one who sees nothing yet to seek for 
in the world of knowledge, or I must take up again 
the life of impatience; become again tormented 
and harassed by that eternal craving that sleeps 
not when I sleep, but worries my sleeping fancies 
even as while awake, and only sleeps in my day- 
dreams of hope. But this was entirely external to 
me ; I had not brought about this accident to stir 
up again the gnawing of that demon that ever 
drove me forward. 

So I could only work on and on as of old, leav- 
ing the past dreams of hope of peace behind, and 
trying to forget them, in my struggles to satisfy 
that craving that had been aroused to action 
again ; had to leave all earthly aspirations behind 
in order to satisfy that eternal craving; had to 
forego all other hopes in my eagerness to grasp 
the infinite. 



THE PROBLEM 49 

I cannot tell just how this continued; this war 
between contentment and truth: but it was for 
days and days, perhaps years. But it ceased at 
last; for one day while I was at work in my 
laboratory as usual, one of my patients, through 
negligence of the servant, entered and by earnest 
solicitations and entreaties persuaded me to ac- 
company him to the health resort. This, at first, 
vexed me, to think that I had consented to leave 
my laboratory, and my work for so long a time; 
and yet the very oddity of it was somewhat ro- 
mantic, for I had never before left off work for 
mere pleasure. But I went. And I made up my 
mind ; I determined to throw all work aside for the 
time, to forget my laboratory, and, what had 
vexed me so in the past, to seek pleasure. 

Once at the Springs, and I began a round of 
pleasure that astonished me : I deprecated the life 
I had led ; I cursed the very fates that had thrown 
such circumstances around me as to cause me to 
begin such a life in my youth, and then keep in that 
same course till almost the present time. For at 
the Springs I met several of my old classmates; 
though while at school I had had nothing to do 
with them in their games and amusements, now 
that I remembered the old days, and the familiar 
faces greeting me after the lapse of so many 
years; looking at their lives, and thinking of my 
own, I could not but conclude, that after all, they 
were in the right, I in the wrong, to be ever seek- 



50 THE PROBLEM 

ing that which is above the comprehension of man, 
while neglecting the pleasures, the very essence of 
life; to ever be trying to solve the problem of 
existence, while neglecting the very end, the very 
purpose of why I exist. So I plunged headlong 
into every enjoyment; rushing blindly forward in 
my eagerness to make up for past neglected pleas- 
ures. I could not obtain enough of each pleasure, 
yet the next was sought with still more eagerness 
than the one just passed. So that I became 
madly intoxicated, almost blindly furious in my 
endeavor with my old acquaintances, each striving 
to obtain the most of every pleasure that pre- 
sented itself. The days were too short for the 
crowded pleasures, and the nights were filled with 
mirth. Thus was all the past endeavor of my life 
forgotten in a moment. 

I had been at the Springs ten days. I remember 
it as distinctly as though it were yesterday,; for 
how can I forget it? It was ten o'clock in the 
morning, on the tenth of May, 19 — ; we had been 
discussing the past, comparing our lives, and di- 
lating on the end of existence. We sat on the 
porch of the hotel waiting for the music to begin, 
and with it our round of pleasures. It was ex- 
pected to begin every moment ; but in the turn of 
the conversation the temperature of the springs 
came up, and in the heat of the discussion it was 
decided that I should be judge of which had the 
highest temperature. The government thermom- 



THE PROBLEM 51 

eter was soon obtained, and we proceeded to test 
the springs, one after another. The temperature 
varied from 78° C. to 112° C. in the 
different springs. Nothing out of the ordinary 
was to be seen until we finally reached one that 
appeared precisely like the others we had just 
been testing in the vicinity, and before testing it 
we noted the different forms of life in and around 
its border. But this one was much more beautiful 
than any we had seen ; for far down in its depths, 
down in its wavy depths below, we could see the 
round smooth pebbles, clear and variegated as if 
they had been arranged by the Xaiads only the 
moment before, fresh from their hands, that its 
beauty might greet our eyes in all its glory and 
splendor: this gateway to the palace of the 
Gnomes. For, though a cloud hid the brightness 
of the sun, the whole of the interior of the spring 
was resplendent with all the brightness of bur- 
nished silver and gold; while on every side, in all 
their luxuriance, was displayed the brilliancy of 
the jasper, amethyst, sapphire and carnelian. And 
as we stood gazing far down into its shadowed 
depths below, we seemed to be looking through 
the eye of the earth into its very heart itself. The 
temperature was taken; it was 98° C. ; we noted it. 
The others had turned, and were walking to the 
next spring. I could not but linger to take another 
look at this beauty dragged by nature to this one 
spot, and enchained, as if forever, to the gateway 



52 THE PROBLEM 

of the Nymphs. And as I looked, the cloud passed 
from before the face of the sun. In a moment 
an oppressive faintness came over me, a dryness, 
a choking in the throat; my heart seemed to 
flutter for a moment, and then to stand still for 
an oppressively long time; for I beheld a brilliant 
green far down in the depths of the spring that on 
account of the shadow and deepness I had not 
recognized before; but now the acuteness of my 
vision would permit me to doubt no longer. The 
thermometer fell from my lifeless fingers to the 
pebbled stones below, breaking into a thousand 
pieces. My companions observing me to be un- 
usually agitated, returned in a moment. I pointed 
out to them the lively green spots still glowing in 
the bright sunlight, far down in the depths of the 
quivering waters. They seemed not to see them 
at all, for it appeared not to stir their reason, nor 
arouse their imagination; but instead they only 
looked at me as if they thought I were going mad, 
or even in the very agonies of death itself. So 
that in a short time I found myself conducted to 
my room. Soon they left me; for I assured them 
my agitation would soon pass off, after respite 
from excitement. I immediately rang for the ser- 
vant, wishing to depart for home the first oppor- 
tunity. 

Again in my laboratory, I seated myself, and 
after a few paroxysms of agitation and uneasi- 
ness, was quiet and calm ; once more to cautiously 



THE PEOBLEM 53 

go over anew, to try again in all their minuteness 
the experiments of the past. For now a flood of 
light had been thrown on all my past knowledge, 
brighter, by far, than the sun's rays which pierced 
far down into the quivering waters of the spring, 
that gave another turn to my thoughts, and thus 
renewed life again; making a world, a universe 
where before was an open field, or perhaps only a 
tangled wood, or the waving of some restless sea. 
Suffice it to say, that now from that one look of 
only a moment I was enabled to see all nature in 
a far different light where before all was isolated 
and distinct; now there was a oneness that per- 
vaded all nature, and defied all analysis from the 
narrow standpoint of one who dwells only on 
Earth; where was before only a law for each and 
every species, now there was one law for all; for 
the species had vanished into nothing but a name. 
For the forms of animals and plants are but the 
means to an end, they having no separate exist- 
ence from the world of matter in which they move : 
thus with all animated existence ; all only have a 
being in the sense that a certain amount of energy 
acts through them for a certain period of time 
and space; and they have no more of an entity 
than the very energy which gives them power to 
move. So that with the old terms of "genera" 
and "species" went also the old notions of "vi- 
tality" and "vital force." 

I could now explain the hibernation of the 



54 THE PROBLEM 

Myoxus, why I could find only one genus of shrimp 
in the aquarium, and above all, why the decapi- 
tated frog would kick the acid off with a foot from 
the opposite side. For "Consciousness" has no 
more of an entity than life itself, and is only the 
continuous adjustment of internal relations to 
external conditions in the mental world as "Life" 
is in the world of matter. For did not the decapi- 
tated frog perform an act that neither he, nor 
any of his ancestors, had ever performed before? 
And could I not make the frogs hibernate at will, 
by placing the proper conditions around them? 
Yet to know whether or not a frog has conscious- 
ness, one would first have to be a frog. And to 
know what would be the conditions of matter in 
the living state in another world, one would have 
to see it there, which is utterly impossible ; though 
from present conditions, to a certain extent, can 
be inferred what life would be under any circum- 
stances ; yet who could have predicted the life of 
algae in a temperature of 98 degrees C? So he 
would be temerity itself who after comparing the 
facts of life conditions here, then concluded as to 
life on another sphere. No mere observations of 
life here would ever tell us even the least as to how 
it is there ; for the very basis upon which we found 
all our estimates changes along with all things 
else. And even though that basis be as broad 
and far reaching as the universe itself, yet as to 
its immediate influence on a particular organism, 



THE PROBLEM 55 

one would have to have a grasp on all knowledge 
however remote. 

For without a knowledge, who could have pre- 
dicted the effects of the lunar oscillations on the 
human organism? And yet that message still 
comes with as much certainty as the rising of the 
sun, telling yet of life on that far-off shore. And 
now, too, it was plain that that we call "sleep" 
instead of being a cause is only an effect; so that 
were we to live for myriads of ages in a night-less 
world there would be no such thing as sleep. And 
since the terrestrial revolutions have given us 
sleep, the lunar oscillations, or it may have been 
when Earth and Moon were one, that old wave 
period still telling its message from life on that 
far-off shore; can it be that that other period 
which we call "Life" was given by a period of 
still greater oscillation, or when Earth, and Sun, 
and Moon were one? For just as every particle 
of matter in the universe is influenced by every 
other particle, so far as gravitation alone is con- 
cerned, why deny that the law holds the same for 
every other physical manifestation, especially 
when this law is so pertinently true in the world of 
thought? For is not thinking as mechanical as 
walking, and walking just as much a mental opera- 
tion as thinking? 

Though I how saw a universality in all existence, 
and a universality in the influences that bear upon 
it, how was that answering the great question? 



56 THE PEOBLEM 

And has not the race been trying to solve this 
problem, this problem of existence, through all 
the ages of the past, even far beyond all recorded 
history? And if they have been blundering and 
floundering in darkness and error, with only a 
faint glimmer of light, here and there, by isolated 
ones far from the great masses, why need I make 
the attempt to solve it alone? And for the mo- 
ment I felt the task was utterly hopeless, utterly 
beyond the powers of mind. For can matter ex- 
plain itself? Can force evolve its own existence? 
And yet I could not but work on and on. For to 
work was as much a part of my existence as to 
breathe; and the uneasiness that followed its ab- 
sence was as the uneasiness, the anxiety of the 
organism when placed out of its element. But to 
proceed. 

I had a vague feeling that all the organs of the 
body must work on some general plan; and if 
there are exceptions I must find them. So I 
began to investigate the functions of the different 
organs, the ones most remote from the brain, be- 
cause they disturb the organism less when experi- 
mented with, and because, too, they can be more 
easily reached; and since it is the largest I chose 
the liver on which to try my first experiments. 
Without going into the details of my investigations 
at this point, I will only sum up the results of my 
explorations, step by step, and point out clearly 
how and why I have reached the conclusion I have ; 



THE PROBLEM 57 

and the one, too, let me add, that anyone else can- 
not but come to who follows in the same path, and 
who takes always the plausible route at every 
turn. The animal I selected was the dog, C. domes- 
ticus, extrarius, not as being the most nearly re- 
lated to man anatomically and physiologically, but 
because of the convenience to obtain him. The 
anatomy of the different parts was well known ; so 
nothing new was to be looked for there. Yet there 
were some pertinent facts that had not so forcibly 
impressed themselves on me before ; and one was 
that every organ has two sets of blood-vessels, or 
at least, the same vessels act differently under 
different conditions. One set supplies the organ 
with organic life, in other words, supplies nour- 
ishment to the organ itself, while another set sup- 
plies it while its physiological action is going on. 
After observing a short time it was easy to be 
seen that there is a great difference in the volume 
of the blood during the physiological activity of 
the organ from that while it is in the quiescent 
state; and that the organic blood supply is almost 
constant, varying only between certain narrow 
limits, and from known definite causes. I tried 
all the principal organs in turn ; but each one gave 
essentially the same answer. This having been 
determined, the next step was to investigate the 
part played by each organ in its physiological ac- 
tivity; in other words, whether its action was for 
a definite, indispensable purpose, or whether it 



58 THE PROBLEM 

was an action of the organism as a whole. Here 
the answer was definite also : each organ was for 
a definite purpose; and that purpose was sep- 
arate and distinct from the other organs as a 
whole, though influenced by them both individually 
and collectively; the results of whose actions we 
commonly know as life. 

This having been determined I set about to pre- 
pare artificially the products of the different 
organs. And here again progress was slow; for I 
was compelled, not only to prepare each secretion 
separately, but also to combine them in an orderly 
manner, to obtain the definite results required. 
For when, say, three secretions were combined, 
unless they were mixed in a consecutive definite 
order quite different results would follow. 

After repeated trials, I at last found the re- 
quired composition of the fluid, as a whole, that 
was made up by the different organs. This was 
quite a stride forward ; but it was only half of the 
problem, from the standpoint of the composition 
of the fluid alone, for unless I could manage the 
products of the 'activities that would take place, 
the problem would only grow 'before me as I ad- 
vanced. My knowledge of synthesis had served 
me well ; now was I to test my knowledge of anal- 
ysis. Though this seemed simpler in one respect, 
having only one fluid to begin with instead of 
many, yet it was not so simple, after all, for in 
trying to find one manageable fluid that would 



THE PROBLEM 59 

neutralize the waste products of life, many exper- 
iments were necessary to obtain the exact propor- 
tion, so that none of the waste products would 
accumulate; in other words, so that they would 
exactly balance each other. But with many trials, 
and much patience, I at last succeeded in approxi- 
mately obtaining the results desired. 

The next step was to dissect out one organ after 
another ; then furnish the artificial fluid, and note 
results. In every instance the dog could smell, 
taste, see, and feel as well as ever; thus proving 
conclusively that I could keep his senses going ar- 
tificially, so long as I furnished the proper fluid to 
sustain them. The question then arose : Can these 
organs be left off entirely; if so, how many, and 
for how long a time? 

This continued day after day, day after day till 
it ran into weeks ; and I had about come to the con- 
clusion that I had succeeded in carrying on life 
artificially, when the questions began to go through 
my mind again. And nearly the very first one 
was, TThat have I done? And immediately the 
answer came ; for I had only found another method 
of artificial feeding. For a moment it disgusted 
me to think I had spent so much time on an end so 
trifling. But then the question came again: if 
I have gone so far successfully, can I not go fur- 
ther along the same line till I accomplish the end 
sought? But now was I puzzled as to what the 
next step in the process should be ; but after a few 



60 THE PEOBLEM 

hours of thought the question came to me, to take 
out the intestines and note results. I laughed at 
the thought. For have I not rendered them use- 
less, so what more can he learned by removing 
them? But, I said, if they are useless I will re- 
move them out of the way at least. 

So I proceeded carefully to remove the intes- 
tines. But as I clipped the mass, behind and below 
the stomach, the heart suddenly ceased to beat, 
and after all attempts to make it continue, I finally 
gave up and proceeded to try another animal, 
hoping next time, being more careful at that point, 
to succeed. But just at that point the heart sud- 
denly fluttered again, and after vainly trying to 
make it continue, I had to give up a second time ; 
for I could not make it go on with its accustomed 
rhythm. The next thing to be done was, in some 
way, to keep the circulation going. So I pro- 
ceeded to remove the intestines piece-meal, so as 
to decrease the shock as much as possible. After 
three unsuccessful attempts, I finally succeeded 
in obtaining results partly to my satisfaction. For 
though the dog appeared perfectly normal, yet 
after a time the action of the heart became irregu- 
lar ; and I was compelled to be continually giving 
one remedy after another to keep it working as it 
should, till finally, after having lived 723 hours, 
the dog died. I tried to find its law of action, and 
thus a permanent remedy ; but after half a dozen 
unsuccessful attempts, I saw the problem must be 



THE PROBLEM 61 

attacked from another quarter. The irregularity 
of action must come from the heart itself; if so, 
why not prepare an artificial heart to do the work 
of the natural one ? For surely the heart is only 
an organ to pump the blood, and no way affects 
the animal organism aside from the blood-supply; 
and so far as its construction is concerned, hardly 
anything can be simpler. iSo after only two at- 
tempts, I had an animal going with an artificial 
heart. I now proceeded to remove the intestines; 
for in this, so far, I had been interested only in 
making the artificial heart work. The animal was 
irritated for a short time, then restlessly nervous ; 
and finally, after sleeping for a time, he awoke in 
an almost normal condition. This continued day 
after day, as on the former occasions with the 
same essential conditions, but in a longer period 
of time, for he lived 2722 hours. I could not ac- 
count for this, so tried another, but with the same 
general results. 

I now came to the conclusion that there was 
something to be learned here that I could in no 
way foresee, and of which I had not even an 
inkling. So I determined to try one of the lower 
animals ; and for this purpose I selected the lizard, 
Seeleporus undulatus. I went through all the 
steps as in the former cases with the dog. The 
lizard did not live nearly so long as the dog, though 
the shock was not nearly so great ; and at first it 
appeared as though he would live much longer, 



62 THE PBOBLEM 

and that, too, without so much exertion. But he 
soon began to show symptoms of exhaustion, and 
in spite of all my efforts died. I tried several 
others, with similar results. The mean length of 
life for the lizard was 136 hours. I next tried the 
turtle, Chrysemys picta. With it the experiment 
was much more easily accomplished, for the shock 
appeared to be almost nil ; but to my surprise in 
102 hours the first turtle was dead. I then tried 
another but he died in exactly 96 hours. I could 
not account for this ; so after varying the experi- 
ment in almost all manner of forms, I had to be 
content to be ignorant still as to why the results 
followed as they did. For the average life of the 
turtle was only 98 hours. 

"What good is this doing me?" I cried in dis- 
gust. How am I advancing by such results as 
these? For the turtle should have lived longer, 
after having gone through every operation with 
so little shock. Truly this will teach me nothing; 
for there is no relation whatever in the length of 
life of the dog, the lizard, and the turtle. So let 
me stop this useless business, and try in another 
direction. But before leaving this route, I tried 
one more animal. 

For my next trials I chose the cat, Felis domes- 
tica. I noticed at once that the shock was much 
greater in the eat than in either the turtle or the 
lizard, but not nearly so great as in the dog. And 
to my surprise the cat lived longer than either the 



THE PROBLEM 63 

lizard or the turtle. For the lizard that lived the 
longest lived 301 hours. This must be anomalous ; 
for is not the shock greater in the cat; and are 
not the surrounding conditions the same? There 
must have been an individual quality in this case 
which I had failed to reckon with. So I tried 
another, but this cat lived 2071 hours. After try- 
ing many experiments I finally got an average for 
the cat, which was 2003 hours. 

Thinking over the results for a time and seeing 
nothing of importance in them, I thought again of 
leaving off, and trying to find other means of ac- 
complishing my purpose. But must I leave all 
this work without having accomplished more than 
seeing how long an animal can live on artificial 
feeding? For that is only what it has amounted 
to. Let me compare the results of my experiments 
and see whether I can find any relation between 
them. In the first place the shock decreased from 
the lizard to the dog, but it was less in the turtle 
than in the lizard. Was there any meaning in 
that? For if there was meaning to it, it should 
have been an increase from the lizard to the dog, 
without the exception of the turtle. For natur- 
alists are agreed that in the scale of classification 
the order is : lizard, turtle, cat, dog. So there is 
no meaning to the results as given by my experi- 
ments. But let me see further: the mean life in 
them in round number was : lizard 136 hours, turtle 
98 hours, cat 2003 hours, dog 2722 hours. But 



64 THE PEOBLEM 

what is there in that? I thought over the ques- 
tion for days and weeks, even while some of my 
experiments were going on, but nothing could I 
see in it, nothing whatever. However, as I began 
to compare again, I saw that at least there was a 
relation between the length of life in the animals, 
and the amount of shock that took place ; for it 
varied in inverse proportion to length of life, that 
is: dog, cat, lizard, turtle. But here again the 
turtle made an exception ; for it should have been 
dog, cat, turtle, lizard. 

For days and weeks I tried these experiments 
over and over, but they gave me the same answer ; 
and nothing was gained from them except a cer- 
tain deftness in operating, tand a cleverness in 
meeting new emergencies as they arose. Indeed, 
the greater part of the phenomena was easily to 
be explained, for surely the shock varies in direct 
proportion to the height of organization of the 
animal ; or in other words, the more highly organ- 
ized the tanimal, the greater the shock. And 
nothing can be more plausible than that the rela- 
tive size of the solar plexus as compared with the 
brain proper, fully explains the length of life, if 
it were not for the exceptions that come in as they 
do. And these very exceptions have a meaning, 
undoubtedly, if the facts could be arranged so as 
to explain them. And already, while searching for 
an explanation of the difficulty before me, I in- 



THE PROBLEM 65 

directly came upon an explanation of Comte's cele- 
brated "Law of the Three Stages.' ' 

And for the first time truth from both sides met, 
a priori et a posteriori, making the chain continu- 
ous, the historic and the experimental ; for is not 
the solar plexus in the earthworm, Lumbricus agri- 
cola, larger in proportion to the earthworm's cere- 
brum than is the solar plexus of man to his cer- 
ebrum? For through the ages the nervous matter 
has been slowly progressing from the solar plexus 
toward the frontal lobes in the higher organisms, 
and with it so-called intelligence. For what is 
more universal than the common observation 
among mankind that the low sloping brow is a 
mark of savagery, and that the high forehead in- 
dicates intellect ? But the intellect is but a broader 
correspondence for the individual; so that think- 
ing is, after all, but a higher living, the nervous 
taking part with the rest of the system in adjusting 
itself to the outer world, broadening the corre- 
spondence almost to infinity. 

And when we ask ourselves why are we con- 
scious, or in other words, what is Consciousness, 
we can readily answer that it is only sensation and 
memory. For we are never conscious of what we 
are, but of what we were, so that without memory 
there is no consciousness, and without a fact to 
be remembered there is no memory. And yet we 
cannot but think of ourselves as being conscious 
of this, and conscious of that, without ever asking 



66 THE PEOBLEM 

ourselves whether there is a consciousness at all; 
but rather is it not two or three processes which 
always take place together and which are insepar- 
able, yet distinct, to which we have given a name 
and stamped with a unity aside from the processes 
which go to make it up? For, given certain condi- 
tions, and we are conscious in spite of ourselves. 
And just because man has a longer memory, that 
is, looks further into the past and adjusts his ac- 
tions to meet conditions further in the future, just 
so much higher is he than the earthworm who 
lives only an hour or perhaps at most a week. 

But is this continuous comparing, this continu- 
ous experimenting bringing me any nearer the sol- 
ution of the problem which I set out to solve? 
Eor surely I am no nearer to the answer to my 
questions than when I began to observe why sleep 
refreshed the patient with the malignant disease. 
Surely this problem is beyond the grasp of mortal 
ken ; and to even see how my past work can be of 
benefit to anyone is beyond my power of discern- 
ment. So, though late in life, let me be as one 
among men, and not allow this question to cause 
me to spend the remainder of my days in useless 
toil. And yet I hated the thought of giving up, 
of having lived in vain; for I had a dim feeling 
that this problem is not beyond the powers of the 
mind, if the steps are taken in the right direction 
and the process is gradual enough. For can we 
say that the mind that can go out and almost grasp 



THE PROBLEM 67 

the infinite, can see tlie great etherium almost be- 
yond the farthest star, is not able to translate into 
intelligible terms the action of force on matter as 
we see it taking place in the world around us? 
For if the steps are gradual enough and in the 
right direction, is not calculus as easy as arithme- 
tic? And yet the steps are almost infinite in 
number. 

But my speculations and further experiments, 
for I was still experimenting and comparing, were 
cut short by another sudden turn in my progress. 
While I was busy as usual, though hardly knowing 
why I worked, and almost on the verge of despair 
so far as the ultimate object of my search was 
concerned, and even not seeing anything of value 
in my past work, my servant announced a patient 
at the door, borne by two policemen. He was 
brought into my laboratory, for, as they explained 
in a few words, it was feared that he was already 
dead ; and they had brought him that I might re- 
suscitate him if possible. Only a few hours before, 
with others, he had gone into the river ; but, when 
this one sank, the others, in their fright not being 
able to render assistance, had hurried home, after 
pointing out to the police where he was last seen. 
After a long search he was found several yards be- 
low, and though they had tried all means at their 
command to resuscitate him, they had not been 
able to see any signs whatever of life. This they 
told me in a few hasty words between their gasps 



68 THE PEOBLEM 

for breath. I asked if there were any relatives of 
the young man in the city. They answered that he 
was a comparative stranger ; that his relatives re- 
sided far east, showing me at the same time an en- 
velope which had been found in the pocket of his 
coat, having the postmark of a far distant city, 
and signed by a lady, presumably his mother. 
Then asking me to report the case to them, they 
departed. 

He was a handsome youth of perhaps nineteen 
or twenty years of age, with refined features, full 
dark brown eyes, fair complexion, and a brow 
where intelligence was at home. But there was no 
time to be lost, for if the circulation was to be 
aroused it must be done at once. After going 
through the different methods known to surgery, I 
was compelled to rest for a moment. Then, after 
examining him carefully, for I had been in such a 
hurry to bring on respiration and to restore the 
action of the heart that I had not had time to 
examine him, we made another effort to arouse 
the action of the heart and lungs. But now, after 
seeing all efforts futile, and being fatigued, we 
placed him on the table which I used in my experi- 
ments; and while the servant was arranging his 
limbs and strapping him to the table to prevent 
his falling off, I made ready the electrical appara- 
tus. For I had still one more resource to try ere 
I should give him up, and that was the electrical 
current. I percussed his lungs, and found them 



THE PEOBLEM 69 

empty ; for they had lowered his head and shaken 
him so in conveying him to my door, that all the 
fluid that had at first engorged the air-cells of the 
lungs had escaped. "When I examined the heart 
I found that it contained a large clot, as usual in 
such cases ; so that though I still had resource to 
electricity, yet it must be used with extreme care ; 
else the wall of the heart would he ruptured, and 
thus bring instant death, even though I cause the 
circulation to begin. So I inserted the needles 
into the heart, and carefully held them while the 
servant turned on the current. This was done very 
carefully so as to force the clot out of the cavities 
of the heart, gradually if possible. But with all 
our repeated efforts, and with artificial respiration 
at the same time, not one sign of life did we elicit 
from the lifeless form on the table before us. I 
repeated this time and again, for I did not wish to 
leave anything undone to restore him ; yet finally 
we had to give up. After waiting a few minutes 
we went to supper ; and I told the servant not to 
return to the laboratory unless I rang for him, for 
we could do nothing more toward resuscitating 
him and that I would send for the undertaker and 
let him take charge of the body. 

I went up to my room and from there to the 
dining room, thinking little of the dead man, for 
incidents like this were so frequent with me that 
after an event had occurred, and I had done all 
I could at the time, I thought little afterwards of 



70 THE PEOBLEM 

the personality of the patient, or whether he had 
recovered, or had died. So now, I was thinking 
again of my experiments, and asking the servant 
concerning some ascidians whose larval state I 
was studying and comparing with the same state 
in the antedon, Necrophorus vespillo, and the 
Lepidoptera. But before I had completed my 
supper, I recollected having neglected to close the 
door to my laboratory. This was so unusual with 
me that I could not continue eating ; for my speci- 
mens of larvse were there in the laboratory beside 
the microscope, and with them the record of my 
past work on the different forms. 

I saw at once, as I entered the room, that nothing 
had been molested, for there were the ascidians, 
and in the middle of the room on the table lay the 
dead man. I examined again to see that there was 
no life remaining. I went through all the tests 
known to surgery and medicine ; every test brought 
the same reply, for there was foam about the 
mouth, and rigor mortis had begun in the lower 
jaw. I was just on the verge of turning to my 
work when something, perhaps an idle thought, 
induced me to try the electric current once more. 
I tried it, turning it on this time suddenly and 
fearlessly ; for no injury could be done to the dead 
body. Nothing of importance occurred; and the 
only difference I noticed was that the wires became 
heated, and burned the flesh slightly where they 
entered the body. This, however, was nothing 



THE PKOBLEM 71 

worthy of note ; but when I attempted to extract 
them they did not come out so readily as they 
should have done. I recalled that they had not 
been used for quite a while, and one of them was 
rusty and tarnished, for when I inserted it it re- 
quired considerable force to make it enter the car- 
tilage beside the sternum ; and leaving them in for 
such a length of time — for we did not remove them 
when we went to supper — no doubt had much to 
do with their adhering so tenaciously to the chest 
of the dead man. So, picking up a knife, a common 
dissector's or surgeon's scalpel, I began to cut the 
needles from the chest. But with the picking up 
of that instrument a new fire, a new force, a some- 
thing not known before seemed to possess me ; for 
I began to cut the needles out of the flesh, not 
simply to remove them. Another purpose had 
somehow suddenly seized me and led me on, ere I 
was aware of what I was about; for it seemed, 
with the picking up of that knife, the flood of all 
the past, the hopes of all my life seemed to con- 
centrate themselves in the one object before me. 
So that what had been only a trifling object was 
now a life-and-death purpose to me; and almost 
before I was aware, I had removed the needles and 
placed them, with a mass of flesh attached, into a 
jar of alcohol. And I had a sensation, a feeling 
that the perspiration was dripping from my brow; 
but indeed, it was a hot summer night, and that 
was nothing strange or unlooked for in a closed 



72 THE PROBLEM 

room; this came over me only at intervals; for 
I worked almost unconsciously, though at times 
I was compelled to stop a moment to catch my 
breath ; and once, I remember it distinctly, I was 
seated in a chair beside the dead almost in a state 
of collapse, almost exhausted; yet the remem- 
brance of that seems like a dream, for I knew not 
when I seated myself, neither do I know when I 
arose. But I know I worked on and on, until 
finally a dull clicking thud aroused my senses by 
continuously falling on my ears, a familiar sound 
that had been my only companion for days and 
days. Yet in my eagerness I hardly heeded it 
now; for it was the bulbs of the artificial heart 
beating within the chest of the dead man. 

In a short time I had determined to keep the 
body there at all hazards. So I rang for the ser- 
vant. In ia moment he was at the door ; however 
I did not allow him to enter the room, but simply 
handed him a note, and closed the door at once. 
I often did this; so he suspected nothing from 
my actions. I then went back and seated myself 
to await the arrival of the metallic coffin which 
I had sent for. The undertaker knew me very 
well ; for he had often sent coffins to my orders, till 
it was nothing to create surprise in him. In a 
short time the coffin was there. I told the men at 
the door they could return in the morning at ten 
o'clock, and convey the corpse to the police station 
to be interred at the public; expense. 



THE PROBLEM 73 

Now that they were away I had time to think and 
act. The first thing to be done was to prepare 
the coffin so that they could not detect the absence 
of the body. And for that purpose I filled some 
sacks with sand, and wrapped them in coverings 
from a bed upstairs, soon had them so they would 
deceive the most acute sense of weight or propor- 
tion. For if I had placed the sand openly in the 
coffin, with the tilting, as it surely would be in 
handling it, the sand would have run down to one 
end ; and the most obtuse could detect at once that 
it was some unorganized material which was in 
the coffin, and not a corpse. So I not only placed 
the sand in bags, but sewed their ends together 
so that they could not slip by each other. Now 
in a corpse there is more or less slipping; the 
limbs sliding, and turning on themselves, so that 
after being transported the body is usually more 
or less displaced. I had not only observed this 
myself, but I had heard thif very undertaker whom 
I had sent for to bury the corpse remark the same 
thing more than once. After placing the bags in 
the coffin and screwing down the lid, I tried by 
lifting and turning it to see how much the sandbags 
would shift. 

I did this quite severely, too, much more than I 
thought would be done by them; for though un- 
dertakers may seem to relatives and friends to 
handle bodies unfeelingly, yet they are careful to 
a certain extent; and from observation I knew 



74 THE PEOBLEM 

about how carefully this particular undertaker did 
his work. I gave it still another shake, for I was 
not quite sure whether he or his assistant would 
come for it; for, if his assistant should come, it 
would he quite another affair, for in all trades the 
young and inexperienced delight in prying into 
everything to satisfy an idle curiosity. So I turned 
the metallic box upon its side and shook it; then 
stood it on end and shook it ; then, after trying by 
lifting at the different corners to detect a shifting 
of the contents, I could not detect a difference more 
than would have occurred had it been a real body. 
I then unscrewed the lid, and examined the con- 
tents. The sacks of sand still lay in the center of 
the coffin; but as was to be expected, they had 
shifted in the long direction of the coffin when I 
stood it on end, but I was sure this was no more 
than a corpse would have done. I examined the 
ends where they were sewn together ; none of the 
stitches had pulled apart. Satisfied that this would 
deceive any connoisseur in the fine art of the 
cemetery, or even defy the critical acumen of any 
detective, I screwed down the lid once more, and 
proceeded to seal it. Then going to the desk I 
wrote out the death certificate as usual, and 
pasted it on the lid of the coffin. 

This done, I for the first time took a glance at 
the corpse on the table; it was lying as still as 
death itself. And I thought : I must keep it here 
at all hazards; and for the first time doubts oc- 



THE PROBLEM 75 

curred to me as to the whereabouts of my pistols, 
which I usually kept in the recess of my drawer. 
I went and examined them, though I had no idea 
of having to use them; yet rather than have 
this — the only opportunity of my life — go by 
without results, I would do almost anything; and 
there was no telling what might transpire in the 
next few hours. For, suppose some of his com- 
panions were to inquire for him, or perhaps if he 
were missed they might come and search the prem- 
ises. I then began to plan how to meet any emer- 
gency that might arise ; and especially to prevent 
the community from knowing that the man was in 
the laboratory, and at the same time to make them 
know he was buried. But what was I to do with 
my servant? For though I might make him think 
the man was dead and buried, how was I to make 
him think the man still alive? 

I was not long in formulating a plan to fully 
deceive the good-natured, dusky, woolly-haired 
son of Ham ; for after taking the note to the un- 
dertaker he had gone to bed, and so knew nothing 
of the coffin being in the laboratory. Though he 
might suspect it, he could not know; and I had 
sent him on the same errand so often before, he 
probably would not even suspect. "But I must 
keep him away till noon to-morrow, for by that 
time the box of sand will be out of the way, so he 
will not have to think the body both dead and 
alive. But while I am making Caesar think the 



76 THE PEOBLEM 

man alive, I must make the undertaker think him 
dead; so they must not meet each other for the 
next few days." 

While I was revolving in my mind how to de- 
ceive hoth with the same facts, I noticed that it 
appeared to be growing lighter, and, looking at 
my wa,tch, I saw that it was five o'clock. Now, 
the question was whether to ring for Caesar, or 
wait till he came as usual to arrange the room. 
"If I ring, will he not suspect something? Ajad 
if I do not allow him to enter the room, will not 
that in itself arouse his suspicion? But I can 
hide the coffin and then allow him to enter, and 
go on with his accustomed duties. Besides, he 
will then see the body on the table and be more 
assured that I have not sent the patient out, thus 
allaying any doubts he may have had as to my 
ordering the coffin last night." 

So I placed the coffin in a closet under the stair- 
steps, and rolled the table with my work on it in 
front of the closet door. I did not even close the 
door of the closet, for it usually stood open, and 
the closing of it might cause him to notice some- 
thing out of the ordinary. Then placing a piece 
of carpet over the coffin in the position usually 
occupied by the ice chest, for this piece of carpet- 
ing was used only for that purpose, I then shoved 
the ice chest itself far back under the stairway out 
of sight. 

This was the work of only a moment, for the 



THE PEOBLEM 77 

servant was accustomed to come long before this ; 
and even a fear crept over me that perhaps he 
had come to the door and I had been so busy that 
I did not perceive him. So, taking a hurried 
glance at the body on the table, I hastened to the 
bell and gave it a vigorous pull; then, after ar- 
ranging the clothes around the body so that he 
would not notice the wounds in the chest, and 
placing the mass of flesh with the needles still 
clinging to it in a glass jar, screwing on the lid, 
and placing it on the table beside me, I coolly took 
a seat in front of the closet door in order to pre- 
vent his entering it, and thus observe the coffin 
on the inside of the closet. For in his work he 
was very careful never to disturb me in the least ; 
long generations of servitude, along with my re- 
peated admonitions, having done its work well in 
making him a perfect servant. 

In a few minutes Caesar entered the room. I 
admonished him somewhat severely for sallowing 
his master to be up and at work before he had 
arranged the room. 

He, half apologizingly and half in excuse, said 
that he had been up twice during the night while 
I slept. After which he went about his work in 
the usual manner; yet I thought he seemed to be 
looking for something that he missed. But was 
that only my imagination? I was afraid to ask 
him why he peered so intently into the closet, for 
the very asking might arouse his suspicion; so I 



78 THE PROBLEM 

worked on as usual, while he went through with his 
accustomed duties, seeming to take an intolerably 
long time. While I sat there looking into the 
microscope, and then making a record of what I 
saw, but watching him all the time, it seemed that 
he would never finish his duties. Finally he de- 
parted, leaving me more puzzled than ever why 
he acted as he did. "Did he return with the un- 
dertakers last night, and then without coming to 
the laboratory door with them, go to his room? 
For surely they could not have told him anything. 
But how am I to know whether he is aware of my 
intents ? I am not certain to this day whether the 
African knew the coffin was in the closet, or 
whether it was my actions which aroused his sus- 
picions." 

However, I decided that I must carry out my 
original plans, unless a point should come up ne- 
cessitating a change. After locking the door to 
the laboratory, and shaking it to be assured that 
it was locked, I hastened to breakfast. While at 
the breakfast table I sent for Caesar, and handing 
him a placebo for one of my patients ten miles in 
the country, instructed him to remain with the 
patient till noon and then to return directly to me. 
The son of Ham was so much interested in the 
explicitness and importance of the directions given 
him, that for the first time I began to feel at ease 
as to my ability to cope with him, even though 
there be foundation for my fears. 



THE PEOBLEM 79 

After eating hurriedly, and seeing the servant 
fairly off, I returned to the laboratory to ascer- 
tain the condition of the patient. It was just as 
I had left it; nothing whatever perceptibly 
changed. So I took the coffin out of the closet, 
and after looking out of each door and ascertain- 
ing no one in sight, placed it near the door leading 
to the street, the one from which they usually took 
the dead bodies, that the men might remain in 
the room as short a time as possible. And yet I 
wished for them to come into the room, so as to 
allay suspicion; for several times this undertaker 
had taken corpses from the house, and every time 
from the laboratory; so were I to have this one 
in the hall, he would surely suspect something. 

All things being arranged so far as it concerned 
the coffin, I then began to arrange the body so that 
they could not see its real condition. I wished 
them to see that there was a man in the room on 
the table ; but of course not for them to recognize 
the features. For they might be acquainted with 
him, or perhaps — what I most feared — they might 
bring some companion of the dead man, who might 
wish to see the corpse and follow it to the place of 
burial. But I was sure he was a comparative 
stranger in the city, and perhaps a new arrival; or 
else they would have conveyed him to his home, or 
the home of some relative ; which allayed my fears 
somewhat. 

Time and again they had brought patients to 



80 THE PEOBLEM 

my door, and always they were persons of whom 
relatives could not be found; so on this my hopes 
rested in having the box of sand buried, and not 
being in any manner disturbed in my purpose by 
friends or relatives. For I often had patients in 
the laboratory when persons would 'come into the 
room, and I did not know but what the undertakers 
had seen or would see Caesar; so if they should 
have anything to say concerning a patient (the 
corpse), they would have the facts before them to 
sustain their view, while at the same time they 
conveyed the corpse from the room. 

This having been arranged, I again seated my- 
self by the table and began to work; but after 
waiting a few minutes, I began to grow impatient 
for them to come for the coffin. Nothing seemed 
to be as I would like it ; so that I was continually 
rising from my seat and rearranging first one 
thing and then another. I looked at my watch. It 
was forty-five minutes past nine. I could not be 
still. No place in the room seemed to suit me ; no 
position agreeable. I paced the floor restlessly; 
I could not be still a moment. 

I must not remain in this condition while they 
were in here, for that in itself would tell much 
more than words. And in a moment I was as calm 
as though I had never seen the body before me. 
Now, in a few minutes, would be the crisis in my 
career, a crisis, too, which I had been working 
towards through all my past, and which would in- 



THE PROBLEM 81 

fluence all my future. For never had anyone gone 
through just the steps I had; and I was quite sure 
I would never have another opportunity such as 
this presented. 

" Where must I be when they come? here or in 
the hall, or in the parlor?" These thoughts ran 
through my mind in a second. "If I am there, 
what will they think of my leaving the patient? 
Besides, they always find me in the laboratory at 
work; so if I am not at work as usual, will they 
not suspect something on that very account?" 

I looked at my watch again ; it lacked two min- 
utes to ten o'clock, the hour they were to come. 
And for the first time the thought came to me that 
they might ask something regarding the patient. 
"What must I say? Must I tell them of the dead 
man in the box? Must I tell them how we were 
unable to see even the first signs of life ; or must 
I answer evasively, and say only, we did all we 
could for the poor fellow? But suppose they ask 
concerning the patient on the table, what then 
must I answer? But I could overcome that diffi- 
culty by not allowing them to remain in the room 
any longer than necessary, and so hurry them away 
before they can make remarks." 

Hearing footfalls, I hastened to the door, and 
in the certainty that it was they I asked them into 
the room ; but it was only a passer-by, who in his 
astonishment looked at me as though he thought 
me mad. Perceiving it to be a stranger, I turned 



82 THE PROBLEM 

hastily and entered the laboratory. Looking at my 
watch again, it was fifteen minutes past ten 
o'clock. "Are they coming? or have they already 
suspected me and are they making the necessary 
preparations to possess the body in spite of all 
my efforts?" This thought aroused me to the 
highest pitch. I went to the drawer and examined 
the pistols. I then hastened to the back door, and 
made a hurried survey of the premises to see 
whether the body might be conveyed to a place of 
greater safety before their arrival. 

But a footfall again approaching the front door 
arrested by attention. "It is surely they: I must 
be more composed. " So walking to the door, and 
by an effort composing my features in spite of 
my feelings, I was startled by seeing it was one 
of my patients who had called to ask about some 
trifling matter. Though not being intimately ac- 
quainted, she enquired if I were ill. I told her 
I had been working too much of late ; but that I 
was as well as usual. In a moment she was gone. 
As I returned to the laboratory, I thought: "This 
will never do ; that lady saw that I was not as I 
was wont to be, and had no grounds for sus- 
picion; and surely the undertaker will see all 
plainly where she saw only a slight illness, for he 
will have other facts to ground a suspicion, to cor- 
roborate my appearance." 

After waiting a long time there was heard an- 
other footfall on the step at the front door. "It 



THE PROBLEM 83 

is surely they this time." A servant answered 
the bell. I heard him tell the caller that I was 
busy, and could not see him; that was enough to 
tell me it was not the undertaker. I looked at my 
watch ; it was thirty minutes past ten o 'clock, yet 
it seemed to me like hours since I had looked at 
my watch before. I examined the body again; it 
was precisely as it had been, as still- as a statue. 
Bending my head down closer to the chest of the 
dead man, I thought, "Yes; going just as when I 
left it," though I could hardly distinguish that 
familiar thud, for I had placed cotton in layers 
around the apparatus and over the heavy clothes, 
so that unless one were accustomed to that par- 
ticular sound or had his attention called to it, it 
would hardly attract his attention in a room 
where there were other sounds, and the splashing 
of water, beside the roar of the city from with- 
out ; for even the rattle from the pavement on the 
street was enough to prevent one's noticing only 
that low dead thud of the balls in the bulb of the 
artificial heart. Yet I could detect in a moment 
the least change in that beat, and could distinguish 
every separate sound in the room ; for my ear had 
been so practiced that I would unconsciously 
catch myself rearranging one or the other parts 
of some of my experiments, even while thinking 
of something else. "But it is going just as it 
should?" And as I bent once again over the pros- 
trate form and turned my head to one side so as to 



84 THE PBOBLEM 

place my ear down nearer the chest — there was the 
undertaker standing on the other side of the table. 

"Is this the body you wish interred? " he asked, 
at the same time placing his hand on the arm of the 
dead man. 

"No!" I replied, "the coffin is ready for inter- 
ment," at the same time pointing to the certificate 
on the top of the lid of the coffin. 

The men seemed exceedingly slow in removing 
the coffin from the room. First one and then the 
other would take a look at the man on the table ; 
and he who had his hand on the arm of the dead 
when first I saw him in the room, still held it there 
through all this conversation, as if he gloated in 
the touch of the dead, gloated on the clammy feel 
of the dead man's skin. And even while I spoke 
to the one, the other who happened to be near the 
jar, containing the mass of flesh, examined its con- 
tents closely. At the time I could not but observe 
this, though I appeared interested only in the con- 
versation. He even took the jar up in his hand 
and turned it to one side that he might the more 
easily inspect every side of its contents. 

" Gentlemen, " I said, "I am very busy this 
morning, and there is nothing else to be done 
toward the preparation for the burial of this," 
pointing again toward the coffin, "and I will notify 
the authorities." As I said this I could not but 
notice that the men saw I was impatient for them 
to remove the coffin from the room ; so the under- 



THE PEOBLEM 85 

taker, advancing toward me, took some papers 
from his pocket, and said: "Here are some papers 
found in his room. Nothing else was to be found. 
It is a letter, and a photograph of a woman, pre- 
sumably his mother. There is an address, the 
post-mark on the letter, but we have not read the 
letter itself; we suppose it is from his mother also. 
Must I turn these over to the police, or must I 
write to the address shown by the letter, or must I 
leave them with you?" 

"You may look after that," I said, heaving a 
sigh of relief. 

"It will be deposited in block 14, number 27," 
for he usually informed me where each body would 
be interred. 

As they began at once to remove the coffin, one 
of the men remarked that it seemed heavier than 
usual for its size ; but the undertaker himself cor- 
rected him by remarking that dead bodies usually 
feel heavier than live ones. I held my breath, for 
I did not know what they might say next; besides, 
I was afraid I might say something that would 
lead them to examine the contents of the coffin. I 
felt the perspiration trickling down my face, but 
I looked, and it was also on the faces of the under- 
taker and his assistant; though they were exert- 
ing themselves while I was only looking on. How- 
ever, they carried the coffin to the hearse without 
another word. I looked at them till they were out 
of sight on their way to the cemetery. Then, in an 



86 THE PBOBLEM 

almost exhausted condition, I returned to tlie 
laboratory and took a seat, intending to rest for a 
moment and quiet my agitation, before beginning 
to work again. But I could not rest ; for my anxi- 
ety to go on with my work so harassed me while 
in the laboratory that I was compelled to go out 
and stroll about the yard for a few minutes. Even 
there I could not remove the thought of working 
immediately, though I had not slept for thirty 
hours. As I walked to and fro in the back yard, 
Caesar returned from his errand. I called him to 
me immediately, even in haste, for fear he might 
escape me and communicate with the undertakers; 
for there is nothing the community likes more than 
to speak of the last sudden death, and this is 
especially so with the servant of a physician. 

I thought, "Now I must keep him busy, so busy 
that he shall not be able to leave the house with- 
out my knowledge, and I must know his every 
movement. Now, too, I can learn for a certainty 
whether he knew the undertakers were here last 
night; for when I tell him he must attend the 
patient closely, of course he will show surprise to 
think it is the same one we worked so hard last 
night to restore ; but if he knows the undertakers 
came, he will think it another patient, and only 
go about his business as usual. " So I said to him, 
4 6 Caesar, you must watch the patient ; must remain 
with him till I tell you to leave. ' ' 

"Well, massa," he replied as usual. 



THE PROBLEM 87 

But I thought I detected in his answer not as- 
tonishment, nor his usual curiosity whenever a new 
patient would be admitted; and yet there was 
something about the answer I could not fathom. 
Following him to the door, I entered the room 
after him; and after explaining that the critical 
condition of the patient necessitated the closest 
attention, and that he must not under any con- 
sideration leave the house, I sent him to the recep- 
tion room with orders to remain, and refuse all 
callers till notified by me. 

Having disposed of Caesar, and being shut out 
from the intrudings of the public, I was able once 
again to turn my attention to the body. I almost 
exulted in my opportunity; for the nervousness 
caused by the absence of Caesar, and ignorance as 
to the extent of his knowledge were dispelled at 
once, so that I could now turn my whole attention 
to the great problem before me. 

"Is the heart beating as it should?" I pro- 
ceeded to examine it carefully. "Yes; I cannot 
detect the slightest change in its action." For 
though I could not see the heart itself, yet I could 
see from the impulse of the tubes that led from it 
upon the cotton in which it was wrapped that it 
was acting as it should. For when the circulation 
was not taking place properly every stroke of the 
piston would cause an agitation in the conducting 
tubes on account of the current being obstructed 
and thus directing the energy which would other- 



88 THE PROBLEM 

wise force the fluid forward in overcoming the 
resistance of the walls of the tubes. And almost 
instinctively I placed my ear to the wall of the 
chest. "That heart is not going as usual; surely 
there is a difference. ' ' And then I placed my ear 
to the top of the chest. "It is going as usual, no 
difference, no difference whatever, so let me be 
satisfied on that point. The respirator must be 
looked after, for he cannot continue thus very 
long." So I began to arrange an apparatus to 
carry on artificial respiration whether the pati- 
ent's strength would allow it or not; for I must 
keep him alive at all hazards. 

"Must I awake him? Not till I have all things 
ready; for then I would only have to make him 
sleep again till proper arrangements have been 
made." 

After considerable time I had arranged a simple 
apparatus which would cause a current of elec- 
tricity to go through the principal muscles of res- 
piration — including the diaphragm, at intervals — 
as rapidly or as slowly as desired, and which could 
be adjusted to meet the conditions as they might 
arise. I had often used such an apparatus in my 
experiments on the lower animals; but I usually 
had them made before beginning the experiments, 
for it takes considerable time, having to be ad- 
justed to fit each body separately. This was at- 
tached to straps so that it could be applied to the 
body readily, and removed when not required, the 



THE PROBLEM 89 

needles adjusting themselves; since I had so ar- 
ranged it that when once adjusted, it was only 
necessary to buckle it to the body. 

Before adjusting the respirator I examined the 
heart once more. It was going as when I had ex- 
amined it before; so I now determined to awake 
him, after placing the respirator at hand so that 
it could be reached if needed without having to 
leave the body. But as I began to draw the 
clothes and cotton aside in order to adjust the in- 
strument to the wall of the chest I perceived two 
tubes where there should have been but one. Al- 
most involuntarily I took hold of one of them and 
pulled it gently in order to see whether it was 
the one I had attached to the blood vessel; for I 
thought I had left one lying in the wound, in my 
haste to close it the night before, having had sev- 
eral at hand. In fact, the ones used had been pre- 
pared for use on the dog, but being nearly similar 
to what one would require for man and not having 
had time to prepare one, I had inserted this. To 
my surprise I soon saw that both of them were 
firmly bound to the chest; so that I concluded to 
allow them to remain as they were, for the time 
being at least, for fear of doing some irreparable 
damage in attempting to remove them, and thus 
put a stop to my further experimenting. Without 
further delay I proceeded to arouse him, that is, I 
made the attempt; but after using every art in 
my power, he still slept on and on. After trying 



90 THE PEOBLEM 

over and over again, I sat down and heaved a sigh: 
of despair, to think that after all my labor, it was 
only to be in vain; and that the only reward for 
my trouble, and cares, and anxieties was the satis- 
fying of my curiosity on a few minor questions,, 
and leaving the great question, the sole object of 
my life 's labors, still untouched. 

But that old characteristic came over me again 
in an opportune moment, and my curiosity urged 
me to examine the piece of flesh which I had taken 
out of the chest-wall, in order to ascertain the 
size of the cavity and perhaps get a clue to why I 
had enclosed two glass bulbs instead of one. A 
glance at the contents of the jar showed me at 
once that the mass was much larger than that usu- 
ally taken out for such purposes. I could plainly 
see the electric needles still attached to the mass, 
imbedded fully to the centre from two directions. 
It was a large jar, and its mouth easily admitted 
my closed hand; so I had no difficulty in lifting 
the mass by the needles, since they were so firmly 
attached that I was not able to extract them the 
night before, thus necessitating the cutting out of 
the mass as before described. It was very heavy, 
much heavier than any similar mass had ever 
before felt to me, and there were several in the 
laboratory at the time. 

After examining it on the side which the needles 
entered, that is, the skin side, I turned it over 
to ascertain how deeply the needles had entered. 



THE PROBLEM 91 

As I turned it, still holding it by the large needles, 
when, horror of horrors ! there was the man's very 
heart itself still attached to the needles! My 
hands trembled; I almost fell to the floor; I almost 
lost consciousness. And hardly knowing how or 
why, I replaced the heart in the jar of alcohol, 
and screwing the lid on firmly, arranged it with 
its fellows on the table. 

Xow that I was somewhat recovered from that 
terrible feeling which had swept over me when I 
discovered the heart, no time was to be lost. I 
rushed to the body on the table and examined its 
pupils again: "Yes, they react to light still." I 
then felt the feet; they were as cold as if they had 
not been taken from the chilly water at all. Ex- 
amining the hands I found that they were cold, 
but not so cold as the feet; and they had not that 
stiff feeling that the feet had. I then applied 
heat to the feet and hands. I had not done this 
before, because the room was warm, and the fluid 
which was circulating through his brain was kept 
a few degrees above blood-heat. It had taken me 
only a moment to arrange the apparatus to keep 
the limbs warm. Xow must I look to the circula- 
tion and adjust the pressure on the blood-vessels; 
for I must not let this one spark of reaction, the 
pupillary reflex, leave him. I then examined the 
pupil again; it still reacted, but was perceptibly 
slower in its action. Xo time was to be lost; he 
must be given more oxygen. But when I put my 



92 THE PEOBLEM 

hand to that- part of the apparatus to turn on 
the oxygen, I perceived for the first time that 
instead of the ■circulating fluid to represent the 
blood, I had only been using the normal salt solu- 
tion. I was so delighted at this discovery that I 
could not at once go on with my work: to think 
that he had been living for so long a time on the 
salt solution alone. But he had done no work in 
the meantime, none whatever; for the artificial 
heart jdid the work of !that organ, and if he 
breathed it was so slight that I could not detect it ; 
so he had been held in statu quo all this while by 
nothing but salt and water ! 

I was confident now that I could arouse him 
again when I turned on the artificial blood, and 
the oxygen. So in a short time I had the reservoir 
filled with the artificial blood-fluid, and heated to 
the proper temperature. As I turned it into his 
system I was sure he would begin again to breathe, 
and that the reflexes would again be aroused to 
their normal state. But I could not perceive a 
difference, except the muscles around the eyes 
appeared to lose some of their masklike expres- 
sion, which had been their chief characteristic, I 
pressed them to try whether they would pit; but 
when I took my finger away the flesh rose again 
almost as in the perfectly normal body; and I 
could see plainly that the circulation was taking 
place as it should in that part of the body. I then 
pressed the muscles of the right fore-arm in the 



THE PROBLEM 93 

same manner; the circulation was in an almost 
normal condition, at least it was as good as in the 
muscles of the face. I then tried the lower limb 
on the same side; there was a little dimple left 
showing only too plainly that in that limb the cir- 
culation had long since ceased. 

This did not surprise me in the least. For, as 
is well known, the circulation ceases in the lower 
extremities long before it does in the region of 
the heart, not the circulation in the strictest terms ; 
but the warmth is not kept up so long in the ex- 
tremities, and the impulse of the heart being fur- 
ther away so that the retarding of the flow, the agi- 
tation not being so great, first shows itself in the 
lower extremities. 

I also tried the left lower limb ; it was just as I 
had expected, similar to the corresponding limb 
on the other side. I covered the limbs with cotton 
and applied warmth, and even made the circu- 
lating fluid several degrees warmer, while at the 
same time increasing the pressure. While the cir- 
culation was fairly active in the face and upper 
extremities, further away from the great blood- 
vessels it was not so good. After making the nec- 
essary adjustments I again tested the pupillary re- 
flex. It was more perfect, and reacted more read- 
ily to light. This gave me hopes of restoring the 
circulation in the extremities. After waiting a 
short time for the blood-vessels to adjust them- 
selves to the new conditions, I again examined the 



94 THE PROBLEM 

circulation. I pressed my finger into the flesh of 
the left fore-arm, and as I took it away was dis- 
appointed in not seeing it assume its former shape 
as it did a few moments ago. I hastily examined 
the pupil again. It was in even a better condition 
than when last examined. i i What does this mean ? 
The pupillary reflex is growing better, while the 
general circulation is steadily growing worse!" 
I then examined the right fore-arm; it reacted 
much better than when last examined. "What 
does this mean? Surely animal never acted thus, 
before, for me ! ' ' 

Before I was aware of what I was doing, in my 
excitement, in my curiosity to understand why 
the circulation varied so from any other animal 
upon which I had experimented, I had opened the 
wound in the chest and was examining the appara- 
tus that carried on the circulation. All was plain 
in a moment. I had inserted one bulb into the 
innominate artery and the other into the left com- 
mon carotid. So there was no need for respira- 
tion, for there was no circulation at all in the 
lungs ; and even if the lungs had acted perfectly, 
so far as the muscles of respiration are concerned, 
the man would have died in a moment from as- 
phyxia. This made plain, too, why the circulation 
was fair in the right arm, while it was nil in the 
left. For the right arm is supplied by the innom- 
inate artery ; while the left is supplied by the left 



THE PROBLEM 95 

subclavian directly from the aorta. And of course 
there was no circulation in the lower extremities 
under the existing conditions. This also explained 
why the beating of that heart was so puzzling to 
me ; for heretofore I had listened to only one heart, 
but now there were two ; for in the lower animals 
which I had experimented with on the course of 
the blood-vessels there was an essential difference 
from that in the human subject. And since the 
bulbs were two or three inches apart, the sounds 
would vary whenever I varied the position of my 
ear on the chest wall, though the same electric cur- 
rent propelled both; so that there was no appre- 
ciable difference from above ; in fact, visitors more 
than once remarked that all the machinery in the 
room seemed to work in unison. 

After making these discoveries there was no 
longer any use for keeping the limbs, in which 
there was no circulation, protected and artificially 
warmed. So I at once removed the apparatus sup- 
plying the artificial heat ; and placed the limbs in 
an easy position by the side of the body, to get 
them out of the way as much as possible, and 
covering them as usual while at work. 

All this time, even while examining them, the 
artificial hearts kept up their work steadily. And 
since it takes a short time for the circulation to 
adjust itself to new conditions, and also for the 
fluid to permeate the tissues, I had lost no time in 
making the examinations, and new arrangements 



96 THE PEOBLEM 

noted above. I now examined the pupil again. 
The reflex astonished me, it appeared so natural ; 
and the muscles of the face, especially those around 
the eyes, had lost almost entirely that masklike 
regularity, and had assumed a form in which the 
expression was astonishing to note. Yet it might 
have been the conditions under which I observed 
them, and the knowledge from which I judged; 
still to see that that eye was growing brighter one 
would not have to be a connoisseur. This so elated 
me, to think that success was almost in sight and 
the reward of the labors, not only of my lifetime 
but the lifetime of Science, was almost assured; 
to think of the enormity of the undertaking, the 
difficulties surmounted, and the chagrin and vexa- 
tions defied ; to think that I was the individual in 
all time whom chance had chosen to take the last 
step in the problem that had haunted the brains 
of the most intellectual of all ages, and that this, 
the greatest question that can ever come to the 
race, is to be looked back upon as having been 

solved in the year 19 — , by . I say 

this so elated me that, for the moment, I forgot all 
else besides; forgot completely the vexations I 
had borne during the past years, the body at my 
side, and for once the lifelong craving of my exis- 
tence. 

Having waited sufficiently long, I examined the 
pupils again. I could detect no change ; none what- 
ever. So I determined to make the attempt to 



THE PEOBLEM 97 

arouse him. At first I was very cautious; for I 
was not quite sure what the effect would be were 
I to arouse him too suddenly. After making sev- 
eral attempts without seeming effect, for he 
showed not a sign of consciousness, though I tried 
every means to arouse him, even pulling his face 
first to one side and then to the other, I desisted, 
for I had grown so accustomed to meeting difficul- 
ties that I felt that I could meet almost any dif- 
ficulty that might present itself. I examined the 
apparatus and the adjustments, for there was 
surely something wrong, some impediment to the 
flow, or the pressure not sufficiently great. After 
seeing that the bulbs and tubes were arranged 
properly, I then began to arrange the apparatus so 
that the pressure would be increased slightly; but 
as I was doing this I noticed that I had failed to 
turn on the oxygen when I began to use the blood- 
fluid. 

I could now see why I had not been able to 
arouse him a moment before. Such a feeling as 
went over me at this knowledge, only they who 
have experienced it can ever have the least con- 
ception of. It was a feeling that all things con- 
ceivable are at the mercy of him who takes the 
proper steps in the process ; and that the mind can 
grasp all things both spiritual and material. I was 
in no hurry now to turn on the oxygen ; why should 
I be ? It was a pleasure now that I had not been 
able to arouse him before. And in that feeling 



98 THE PROBLEM 

that flooded me, I seated myself in an easy chair 
and began to muse on what the results would be 
when I turned on the fluid that gives energy to 
all things earthly: "What will appear in that 
consciousness, when after this sleep of death, he 
is aroused again into action by the turning on of 
this invigorating fluid? After having left this 
world forever, what will be his thoughts, his hopes, 
his longings, his aspirations in this new life? And 
in that world within death, within the grave, will 
memory remain of this world behind? And fear 
of the devil; and love of God? And will sad 
melancholy throw its gloomy spell as ever? And, 
with the mixing of that fluid, will wondrous 
thought speed forth to grasp the universe in its 
mighty span? And will strict conscience rise 
again to guide him with its kind?" 

But these reveries were broken by the tube 
which, slipping from the nozzle of the reservoir 
and falling to the floor, splashed the blood-fluid in 
every direction. It was soon rearranged, however, 
and after examining the whole of the apparatus in 
every detail and seeing that it was properly ad- 
justed and working as it should, I turned on the 
oxygen, slowly at first, then more rapidly but not 
to its fullest extent. Leaving the apparatus at 
work, for it operated readily and without the least 
attention after being once adjusted, I stood by the 
side of the body, looking for it to awake every 
moment ; but it lay there as cold and motionless as 



THE PROBLEM 99 

ever. After waiting at least fifteen, or perhaps 
twenty minutes, and at short intervals during this 
time having made several attempts to arouse him 
by methods I had employed before, though not so 
vigorously, I then determined to turn on the oxy- 
gen to its fullest capacity. 

As I walked back to where the part of the ap- 
paratus was that regulated the flow of oxygen I 
stumbled over a pile of rubber tubing, bottles, 
clothes, and all manner of trinkets too numerous to 
mention, which I had been using, not only in this 
but in other experiments of late, but had not re- 
arranged in their proper places ; so that as I looked 
around the mass of tangled rubbish I was some- 
what annoyed that it had accumulated to remain in 
my way with this experiment. I began at once to 
rearrange those parts of it which were still being 
used; some, for which I had no further use, to 
place in their proper places; and to throw the 
remainder in a heap in a vacant corner of the 
room. 

To rid myself of this mass of rubbish had taken 
about fifteen minutes as well as I can reckon, 
though I had not yet removed all of it and was still 
passing to and fro about the body. Reader, im- 
agine the sensations that went through me as I 
looked down into the eyes of him that had no 
heart ! I do not know how long he had been look- 
ing on, but as I looked toward the head I saw the 
eyes were following me in every movement, so that 



100 THE PROBLEM 

I could not but pause and gaze down into them. 
His lips moved as though he were trying to speak j 
and I instinctively bent over him and consolingly 
bade him be quiet, stroking his brow gently at the 
same time, which was a habit with me toward my 
patients. A smile then played around his lips, and 
a cold perspiration stood on his forehead, but not 
another muscle of his body moved. And glancing 
down from habit to see the condition of the respir- 
ation, to my horror I discovered his chest was as 
motionless as if it had been hewn from solid stone. 
I placed my hand upon his bare chest to reassure 
me ; it was eold and motionless. I arose and paced 
the floor a moment, but when I turned toward him 
those eyes followed me so that I could not but 
return and wipe that clammy brow. I bent over 
him, and gently stroking his forehead, bade him 
go to sleep. He looked at me acquiescingly, and 
then closed his eyes. I was not frightened now; 
I was as calm as the man beside me with his eyes 
closed trying to sleep. I felt my pulse ; it beat as 
regularly as ever. I looked at my watch; it was 
1:20 a. m. "Have I been at work on him since 
leaving the table at 9 :30 a. m. ? And will he sleep 
again? " I walked to and stood beside him. As 
I placed my hand upon his brow to reassure me 
that he was asleep, he quickly opened his eyes and 
looked up into my face as if to ask, What is your 
wish? For surely it was an almost idle curiosity 
that prompted me to arouse him. And for the 



THE PROBLEM 101 

first time the thought came to me that I had a 
burden on my hands that I could neither keep 
nor throw off. "What am I to do with him? And 
will he ever sleep again?" For he appeared to 
only have his eyes closed a minute ago. He was 
not asleep, but only had his eyes closed and held 
them so because I had told him to sleep. I bade 
him sleep, again reassuring him as before. He 
closed his eyes as on the former occasion. After 
watching for a short time I seated myself by him 
and began to expedite some plan whereby I could 
carry out my experiments, protect myself, and 
satisfy the police. 

As I sat by him with my hand still resting on 
his brow, my attention was attracted to a loud 
knocking at the door. Hastily throwing the sheet 
over the body and arranging it so that nothing out 
of the ordinary could be seen, I went to and 
opened the door. There stood Caesar, hat in hand ; 
and looking as though he expected me to censure 
him severely for his having disturbed me at my 
work. 

"Massa," he said, "this is three times I have 
called you to supper. They want to know if you 
are going to eat supper?" And for the first time 
I noticed that the lights were burning in the lab- 
oratory. Looking at my watch, I saw that it was 
thirty-seven minutes past one o'clock in the morn- 
ing. I told Caesar to come in ; and after explain- 
ing to him that he must not leave the room, I went 



102 THE PBOBLEM 

to the dining-room and ate supper, after -which. I 
returned, and giving him instructions to wake me 
at eight o'clock in the morning, left him to watch 
during the night. 

As I went to my bed-room, I was quite sure he 
would not touch the body; and since it was 
strapped to the table it could not injure itself in 
any possible manner. After sleeping a few hours 
I could then go on with my work with greater 
energy than if I were to try to do all at once. 
Besides, since I had the body so I could in a 
manner control it, and also having no more danger 
of not being able to arouse him to consciousness 
again, a dreadful drowsiness, a heavy sleepiness 
seemed to almost overpower me. 

Precisely at eight o'clock Caesar's voice was 
heard calling at my door. For thirty years he 
<had never failed to arouse me at the moment des- 
ignated. After a few perfunctory and hasty ques- 
tions in regard to the patient, I hurried to the labo- 
ratory. The patient was just as I had left him the 
night before ; not the slightest change that I could 
detect. The question now was how to keep Caesar 
employed so that he could not communicate his 
idle curiosity to the undertakers. After asking 
him how the patient rested during the night, and 
receiving the reply that he snored nearly the whole 
time, I bade him first go to breakfast and then 
return immediately to the laboratory. 



THE PROBLEM 103 

Such a sense of satisfaction loomed over me as 
I prepared to push my experiments further, as I 
prepared to deliberately proceed to a conclusion 
that I knew must needs follow the direct questions 
which I would put to nature in the next few hours, 
only they who have worked for years toward the 
solution of a single problem, only they who have 
had a life object that was never lost sight of, and 
finally in later middle age attained to its uttermost, 
they, and they only, can ever know the flood of 
emotions that went through me as I prepared to 
put the final question, to receive the final answer 
direct, that had ever before been answered, almost 
as conclusively though perhaps, only in theory! 

They that think pleasures never come to the man 
of thought because he has no joy in the frivolous 
affairs of life should be with him till they can see 
pleasure in the things that make up his life. 
Though even in my childhood I had been utterly 
misunderstood by many, had been separated from 
them by an impassable gulf, and had even then 
loved the company of the aged and thoughtful ; yet 
pleasures had come to me through many and un- 
sought channels. When Caesar returned from 
breakfast, he said: "Massa, I hope I die fus." 
Not noticing him, for I was busy with my work, 
his words conveyed no meaning; yet the combina- 
tion somehow impressed itself on my memory. 
For when he said later, "Massa, what if you die?." 
I knew at once that it was but another form of his 



104 .THE PROBLEM 

former thought. I could not but laugh heartily at 
this joke of -Caesar's, yet the poor fellow was as 
much in earnest as could be. 

Having sent Caesar to remain in the reception 
room and keep off intruders, which also kept him 
employed at the same time, I went on with my ex- 
periments. First I must see whether he was still 
asleep. But as I lifted the sheet from off the face 
he looked up at me, his bright eyes showing plainly 
that he had not slept at all, but had been only 
lying there with his eyes closed. The next question 
to be decided was, what is sleep? Already the 
first step in the solution of that part of the problem 
had been taken; for undoubtedly the patient had 
not slept a wink during the entire night, at least, 
since I had left him. For though Caesar affirmed 
that he had snored the whole time, those conver- 
sant with the habits of the African need not be 
told that it was Caesar who did the snoring. 

As I was saying, the first step, and one of vast 
importance too, had been decided, in this, the pre- 
liminary problem ; for if the patient has not slept 
during all this time, it is easy to see that one can 
remain awake with impunity. For surely he looks 
as refreshed and vigorous now as when I left him 
last night. But I was confronted by two questions 
that must necessarily be decided by the conditions 
as they should arise. The most important one 
concerned my ignorance as to how long I could 
control the nourishment of the brain and thus 



THE PROBLEM 105 

vary the conditions at my pleasure ; the other was, 
what length of time would I have to continue a 
process before one could gainsay the results, or, 
in other words, how long must he sleep before it 
could be said, no one ever slept thus before? 
Knowing well enough that I could not possibly 
keep him sleeping longer than others have slept, 
the experiment must be varied so that the time- 
limit would not come into the conclusion. This was 
puzzling; and for a time I thought it an insur- 
mountable obstacle in this phase of the problem at 
least, though it bears on the main problem only as 
a thousand other facts, and is of no more individ- 
ual importance than they. I began to review my 
experiments and to estimate their separate bear- 
ings on the main problem. 

But when I came to the ones where I had made 
the frogs hibernate at will, it flashed through me, 
can I not make him sleep at will? And without 
delay I proceeded to make arrangements to decide 
at least the question of sleep in a short time, in- 
stead of having to wait as I feared above. For 
what can be more plausible than that given certain 
conditions and sleep follows, and given certain 
other conditions and wakefulness follows, to de- 
cide the question of sleep ? It certainly cannot be 
that blood pressure alone is the cause of sleep; 
neither can it be that oxidation, either in excess 
or diminished, can be the principal cause, though 
it is also one of the conditions ; but in this case it 



106 THE PEOBLEM 

may be more a result than a cause, or to be more 
accurate, a concomitant relation. Though oxygen 
must be present, and even more abundantly, just 
as water must be present, yet no one ever thought 
that the presence of water alone was a cause of 
mental activity, though it is one of the principal 
conditions of that activity; for there are other 
active elements which make the keystone to the 
arch, these only forming the supporting columns 
on either side. 

We have now reached the acme of the problem as 
to what sleep is, from the point of view of the 
theorist, from the point of view of the physiologist, 
and from the consensus of philosophers, and yet 
there is the sine qua non of sleep lacking. To say 
that it is a habit tells nothing, for we are then to 
explain all habit ; while we have seen that it is not 
altogether as a rest to the nervous system, though 
the reparative processes to nerve tissue do take 
place more actively during sleep. In all the above 
estimates effects have been taken as causes, and in 
the building up of the various theories it could not 
but be that the whole process should be taken into 
the estimates. Yet in regard to cause and effect 
they cannot be left off as a whole; for sleep is 
nothing more nor less than the meeting of certain 
conditions by certain tissue elements, principally 
the nervous. To make this point perfectly plain, 
had we lived for ages in a world with no night we 
would never have known sleep, as we know it now* 



THE PROBLEM 107 

So it is easily to be seen that habit, oxidation, etc., 
are no more the cause of sleep than is food a cause 
of hunger, or water of thirst. 

As I was saying above, the first part of the prob- 
lem was already solved. " If I can keep him awake, 
that at least is part of the problem of sleep," 
showing in a negative manner what could not be 
shown in a positive one. The conditions remaining 
the same, the state remains the same ; or with given 
conditions, positively sequent results follow, and 
follow, too, as inexorably as any process in mathe- 
matics, at least this has been so from the nega- 
tive side. Now was I to test the positive side. So 
I proceeded to lower the reservoir, or in other 
words to decrease the pressure, for we saw in our 
observations on sleep that one of the constant ac- 
companiments was a decrease of intra-cerebral 
blood pressure; and since diminished oxidation 
was also a constant accompaniment, the supply of 
oxygen was reduced. I waited a few minutes to 
see what would follow to meet the new conditions 
that I had thrown around the nervous system of 
the patient. Nothing of importance occurred; 
nothing approaching the state we call sleep, that 
I could detect; but a drowsiness, a dullness, as if a 
gloomy weariness had settled over the patient, 
seemed to be the only state to meet the new con- 
ditions. 

I waited patiently minute after minute expect- 
ing to see him close his eyes, but he only con- 



108 THE PROBLEM 

tinued in the same state. Without hardly knowing 
why, I lowered the reservoir still more; nothing 
occurred more than a deepening of the conditions 
named above. This so interested me that I low- 
ered it still more ; a state similar to syncope fol- 
lowed, or iat least it so appeared; for on account 
of the absence of the breathing, and the already 
horizontal position, it was hard to judge just how 
much it resembled syncope and how much sleep. 
But when I examined the pupils they told, at once, 
the difference ; for not only was the facial expres- 
sion lost, but the eyes had grown dull, the pupils 
dilated, slowly reacted to light, while the face was 
bathed in a clammy perspiration similar to that 
which had so tenaciously hung about his features 
when he was first brought to my laboratory. This 
so frightened me that I at once, and hastily, raised 
the pressure, without further observations as to 
what syncope might be, or how it might be brought 
about. Yet this was enough to convince me that 
I could not make him sleep at my pleasure by 
simply decreasing the pressure and the amount of 
oxygen supplied to the nerve centres. After hav- 
ing raised the pressure to the point where it was 
before the dangerous symptoms began to be mani- 
fest, I waited and watched in suspense for several 
minutes before I was sure the reaction was begun 
again. It was very slow at first, so slow that 
more than once I had determined to increase the 
pressure ; yet after it had once begun I was quite 



THE PROBLEM 109 

sure the reaction would soon follow. And in a 
few minutes my patience was rewarded by seeing 
the brilliancy once more in that eye, the facial ex- 
pression once more speaking that universal 
language; and that uneasiness which had for 
the last few hours pervaded its whole expres- 
sion, passing away and giving place to the 
contentment that had so encouraged me before I 
made the attempt to induce sleep artificially. He 
had not fully recovered the vivaciousness, how- 
ever, which had characterized him when the pres- 
sure and the oxygen had been on to their fullest 
extent, for I had only turned them on to the point 
where I had at first tried to induce sleep; so that 
a drowsiness still hung about his features, a 
drowsiness that had at first given me hopes of 
being able to induce sleep by lowering it still fur- 
ther, but in which, as said above, only syncope 
had followed. 

Now that he was recovering, I wiped the per- 
spiration from his brow; and wishing to recover, 
myself, from the shock of having so dangerously 
experimented with him for so insignificant an end, 
I covered his face with the sheet and went out 
into the fresh air. I returned in a short time, 
perhaps five minutes, yet when I raised the cover- 
ing from his face he was fast asleep. This was 
quite a surprise to me, for he had lain awake dur- 
ing the whole night, and now within five minutes 



110 THE PROBLEM 

had fallen asleep. It was with no little misgivings 
that I tried to arouse him from his slumber; but 
in a moment he was awake again. I now, for the 
first time saw the principal element in the produc- 
tion of sleep; that is, so far as it concerns sleep 
as one of the essentials of animal existence, and 
from an experimental point of view (for as said 
above, had we never known night we had never 
known sleep), and that was the closure of the 
channels of sensation. For when I threw the sheet 
over his eyes, the other conditions remaining the 
same, sleep followed immediately. Thus again 
had it followed that theoretically I had taken two 
steps in the right direction, but was entirely ig- 
norant of the third, and principal one, till it was 
supplied almost by accident. I now deliberately 
placed the sheet over his face, and waited several 
minutes in silence before uncovering it; when I 
pulled the sheet from before his eyes, he was fast 
asleep as before. I could make him sleep at will 
by merely closing the channels of sensation ; for I 
had only to place my fingers over his eyes and 
auditory channels and hold them there for a few 
minutes, when he was sound asleep. I tried this 
over and over again, but in no instance did similar 
results fail to follow. 

For a moment I felt that I had been more than 
repaid for a lifetime of toil and watchings. How 
near to truth years ago! But now the sentence 
should read: " * * * the oscillations of vital 



THE PROBLEM 111 

activity in the animal organism are * * * cor- 
related as effect and cause to the terrestrial revo- 
lutions, * * * influencing the organism day 
by day." Thus for the question of sleep. 

They that have dealt only in mere words can 
never know the language of the eye, for we con- 
versed in a language the exalted sentiments of 
which defied all power of vocables to convey. Yet 
these communications of the oscillations of the 
cells of our brains through the acute observations 
of the minute muscles around the eye were no less 
certain, no less cognizant to the receptive cells, 
than the faintest whisper in the world of words, 
for the least contractions were no less definite to 
the observing eye ; then how much more with whole 
muscles and groups of muscles? I at once per- 
ceived that it was the muscles, and they alone, that 
conveyed the oscillations from his brain-cells to 
my eye. For when I would shield them, so that 
nothing but the eye-ball itself could be seen, it was 
wholly expressionless, and the conversation would 
be as effectually interrupted as a dialogue in mere 
words would when the lips are closed. 

That even Cassar, with no training and so little 
exercise, could easily read what had impressed 
those cells in days gone by, irritated, harassed 
me no little; and while considering him as I did 
my exclusive eharge, to think that the African 
could understand this language better than I, and 
could read the thoughts in the innermost recesses 



112 THE PROBLEM 

of his being vexed me exceedingly. So that time 
and again when he would begin to discourse with 
me on what he so vividly saw before him, I ordered 
him from the room, no less to be rid of his words, 
which annoyed me, than to put a stop to 'his obser- 
vations, which I had a suspicion of, and which 
boded no good. 

This continued day after day ; and the intimacy, 
the familiarity that grew up between us, ever 
broadening and deepening with the increase of 
knowledge of each other's heart, grew more and 
more romantic with every morning's greeting of 
those eyes, till my feelings toward him surpassed 
any that I had ever had toward any one before, 
and for once even stepped between me and Caesar, 
so that the latter began to regard me with sus- 
picion ; not on account of the condition of the pa- 
tient — for how often had I had patients who could 
not speak — nor on account of my actions toward 
the patient : but from a changed relation, a rela- 
tion toward this patient that Caesar early and 
easily perceived had never existed before, and 
which aroused a species of jealousy in his breast ; 
while, at the same time, I had a growing fear that 
this would continue till it in some manner blasted 
my further experimenting. So that having sent 
Caesar to wait in the reception room and turn 
back all intruders no matter how urgent they might 
pretend their case to be, nothing was in the way 
to the consummation of my long cherished hopes. 



THE PROBLEM 113 

The greetings, day after day, between me and 
my strange patient, not only gave more definite- 
ness to the communications that went on hence- 
forth between our minds, but also augmented the 
bonds of our affection ; so that it was with a fervid 
delight that I looked forward to the salutation 
which would meet my eyes with the lifting of that 
sheet. This continued day after day; for I had 
grown so accustomed to his condition that life was 
no longer out of its routine of work, no less to 
him than to me. For after the morning greetings 
I would try all manner of tests, too numerous to 
mention, to confirm the identity of this with an 
ordinary man on his feet going about his daily 
duties, with, of course, the known and above-de- 
scribed conditions taken into account, and influen- 
cing the results in a definite manner, usually 
known beforehand. Only a few of these results 
need be mentioned to show the precision, the defi- 
niteness, and the accuracy of the sequence that 
followed when any prescribed cause was given; 
so that one could always foretell what would occur 
as surely as in a mathematical problem or a chem- 
ical experiment. 

When I would decrease the amount of water in 
the blood-fluid below a certain point he would grow 
uneasy and remain so till it was raised again to the 
normal; when the element of nutrition would be 
lowered he would again grow uneasy, but in this 
he was not so wildly agitated as by thirst, but 



114 THE PROBLEM 

would look at me, following me with his eyes in 
my every movement as though he knew that I was 
aware of his hunger, but was busy and heeded not 
his 'craving. When I would administer atropine, 
the pupil would dilate widely and accommodation 
be paralyzed; when apomorphine was adminis- 
tered the poor fellow grew deathly sick, so that I 
hastened to remove the nauseating drug from the 
fluid; but when morphine was administered, the 
pupils contracted, and after a momentary excite- 
ment, a peace seemed to pervade his whole coun- 
tenance, a calmness I had never noticed before. 
But these experiments need not be described more 
in detail, for they were exactly similar to the 
results that would follow on every other organism, 
except of course with conditions which can be 
estimated beforehand and accounted for ; yet even 
then the results were interesting in the extreme, 
when, for instance, he attempted to heave without 
the use of lungs, and to retch without having the 
least control of his throat, or being as though he 
had no throat at all. 

Along with these experiments, testing the phys- 
ical, were others no less interesting in the so-called 
mental world; for the different phases of inter- 
communication between our minds bordered on the 
marvelous. We had grown to read each other's 
thoughts through the language of the eye as accu- 
rately, as readily, and much more rapidly and 
thoroughly, than had we had the mastery of a vast 



THE PEOBLEM 115 

vocabulary of mere words. Indeed, in the every- 
day world, and on every hand, it can be distinctly 
seen that the very words themselves are an im- 
pediment of no small consideration to the com- 
munication of thought; and they who may have 
doubts as to this thoroughness and accuracy have 
only to think for a moment at the wonderful acute- 
ness of the senses of the deaf, dumb, and the 
blind. 

Fortune favored me in one thing that I could 
have had no control whatever over, for it gave me 
an individual with a good disposition; so that I 
had only to throw the conditions around him and 
receive an unbiased reply. His patience and good 
nature, together with his whole disposition, were 
no less in accord with the beauty of each individual 
feature, than with the contour and harmony of 
his countenance. For with my every act he was 
perfectly contented, and showed not the least fear 
or suspicion, satisfied that it was for his own good, 
and even being cheerful while enduring disagree- 
able or even painful trials, which of course were 
as little as possible, and much less so than one 
would have any idea of on a first thought; since I 
had almost absolute control of his sensations 
through the blood-fluid, besides a composition 
which when applied to nerve tissue hermetically 
sealed it at once, and though cutting off all further 
communication, at the same time allayed all sense 



116 THE PEOBLEM 

of pain, but left the nerve in an otherwise normal 
condition. 

Our minds seemed to grow daily more and more 
in harmony with that single thought that had all 
my life long been before me, haunting me at every 
phase of my being by a corresponding epoch in 
my spiritual existence, never leaving me but to 
return with redoubled energy to drive me forward 
to that goal of all knowledge, the great problem 
supposedly solved by so many, yet solved by 
none. For the contagion of my mind had, in a 
manner easily explained, infected his, and wholly 
without intention on my part, so that he grew more 
and more interested in the relations that existed 
between us, more and more interested in the tests 
as I would apply them ; and mudh more interested 
in the part he was to play. He instinctively felt 
that something out of the ordinary was taMng 
place that related not only to us, but extended far 
beyond our own personalities. Yet I am sure he 
knew not the important role he was playing and 
was expected yet to play in the solution; for he 
was not even aware of the character of the prob- 
lem, much less what it portended. Though the 
interaction of my mind influenced his more or less ; 
yet were his moral and emotional parts as sep- 
arate, his sentiments and feelings as delicate, his 
intellect, his understanding as clear, his spiritual 
being as distinct as ever; so that these, together 
with his consciousness (which in no manner varied 



THE PROBLEM 117 

from the normal) , made the results of my experi- 
ments, the answers to the questions which I put to 
him, no less real than existence itself. 

How seriously, how concisely, how beautifully 
my theory was being developed, only they who 
have weighed every particle of truth, giving each 
its due relative proportion in the sum of evidence, 
only they who have (Scrutinized every avenue for 
error, and finally only they who have had an eager 
passion for knowledge for its own sake, they and 
they only, can ever be aware. The assurance with 
which I proceeded was a source of pleasure, a feel- 
ing of security, a sensation of well-being in itself, 
aside from that contentment which always imme- 
diately follows success in any undertaking and is 
the principal object of exertion in all our enter- 
prises, though usually lost sight of by the vulgar 
and outer world. 

The disagreeable trials being over, the trials a 
posteriori, testing the identity of the operations of 
his nerve cells from a purely physical point of 
view, I now proceeded a priori, to test them from 
the point of view of results ; that is, from observa- 
tion to work out the causes of the results of my 
observations. How interesting to patiently watch 
the workings of that mind! How curious to see 
every cause, however trivial, connected with all 
others, however vast and important, and to see 
every result not only bound up in its direct cause, 
but being a resultant of the vast host of causes 



118 THE PBOBLEM 

that had gone before ! It was a pleasure, no less 
to me than to him, to study the objects in the room, 
all new to him, and to deduce the purpose of each 
separately, and as a whole ; for the mental process 
was the same, and if worked out in detail on mere 
trifles, the results are identical — had it been in the 
swaying of mighty empires or observing the mech- 
anism of the stellar universe. 

But my pleasure, and his, was rudely upset. For 
&s we were progressing as usual (it was thirty 
minutes after ten o'clock in the morning), even 
while all was gliding smoothly, land the serenity 
about his brow gave a soothing effect to our con- 
verse, gave a reassuring hope for our ultimate 
success, without any warning whatever, and almost 
before I was aware of what was taking place, a 
wildness came over his countenance, a horror that 
I could not explain the meaning of, and which 
chilled my very blood with fear. Those eyes start- 
ing from their sockets, and that expression surging 
over his features as he attempted for the first time 
to raise his head gave a hideousness to his demean- 
or that more than fully compensated for all his 
mildness of the past; and the horror of which is 
utterly beyond the power of words to convey. He 
made attempt after attempt to raise his head from 
the pillow where of course it was held loosely by 
the straps to prevent his falling. Bushing to him, 
I tried by all the means in my power to soothe and 
reassure him. He ;said not a word, for in my ex- 



THE PROBLEM 119 

citement I had forgotten, and expected every mo- 
ment to hear him speak; so that the very absence 
of words along with his actions and the expression 
of his eyes gave more horror if possible than had 
he spoken or even uttered some word, had had 
some channel of escape for the pent-up emotions 
that were surging within, and at the same time 
broken the spell of the terrible silence that en- 
shrouded all. 

After a moment I heard Caesar say, "He is 
busy, and cannot receive callers." So I arose and 
closed the door of the laboratory leading into the 
hall, for fear they might be disturbed by the ex- 
citement in the laboratory. Ketuming to him I 
continued to do whatever was necessary to quiet 
him, wiping away the sweat that stood in great 
drops on his brow; while almost at the same time I 
examined the different parts of the apparatus to 
ascertain the cause of all this commotion. He grad- 
ually became more quiet, and being greatly ex- 
hausted, in fact appearing as though in a state 
of collapse, he finally sank into a gentle sleep. 
I then went over the apparatus again, examining 
every part in detail; and seeing that it was in 
perfect working order, adjusted the apparatus 
that he might continue to sleep, and thus give me 
time to understand fully the cause of his behavior; 
while at the same time he would be more refreshed 
by sleep, the channels of nervous agitation being 
closed. Besides, I was afraid to disturb him till 



120 THE PROBLEM 

I should feel myself more in control of his actions. 
I was as one in such a predicament that the worst 
issue could not have caused greater perturbation. 
For the moment I forgot the problem before me, 
in my solicitation to quiet the great excitement and 
agitation in my patient. 

As he slept, after pacing the floor a while to 
quiet my agitation (for after I had ceased to act 
I had grown more agitated than ever), I seated 
myself to quietly unravel the causes that led up 
to what had almost put a stop to my further ex- 
perimenting, and thus an end to all hopes of suc- 
cess. I shuddered to think how near complete fail- 
ure had come to my undertaking, how all the past 
favors opportunity had thrown in my way might 
have come to naught in a moment. But there was 
no time to be lost. I must fathom this difficulty 
so as to know how to act in the future; for, I 
thought, unless I can command this condition, this 
difficulty, I may be confronted with a repetition of 
this horrible paroxysm at any moment. And yet, 
what more can I do? What further arrange? 
There is nothing more to be done so far as the 
mechanical apparatus is concerned. For is it not 
working perfectly, as in the past ? Surely there is 
something; some new condition that I have been 
ignorant of, or a gradual process working silently, 
and not comprehended by me. 

I then examined the pupillary reflex again. It 
was precisely as it had been for days; not the 



THE PROBLEM 121 

least change that I could detect. This gave me 
hope that after all it did not mean near so much 
as I had at first feared. And yet the thought of 
a repetition of what I had just passed through 
made me shudder again, not only for the future of 
my work, but also for the feelings of the patient, 
to whom I had grown attached in a most extraor- 
dinary degree. But all my efforts were of no avail ; 
for in a short time I was at my wits' end, utterly 
confounded by the multitude of facts that crowded 
themselves into the reckoning of the problem 
before me; facts in which I could see no cause 
whatever, and in which no order or organization 
was perceived. Even though appalled at the hor- 
rible sight of a few minutes ago, I was not in the 
least dismayed by these alarming events ; for suc- 
cess had so often followed on the very verge of 
defeat, in fact, it seemed that the brink of despair 
was only a harbinger of some surprising success; 
so that, though doubtingly, I looked another step 
forward, another development I could have no 
idea of, in the solution of the problem. 

After waiting perhaps an hour I determined to 
awake him. At the first attempt and without any 
difficulty whatever he awoke refreshed and as calm 
as though nothing out of the ordinary had hap- 
pened. Though I shall never forget the former 
expression on that face and the look in that eye, 
the moment I again looked down into his eyes 
brought as great a happiness as the other had been 



122 THE PROBLEM 

a sorrow. For the calmness, the serenity that 
flowed forth from those eyes seemed to presage 
in itself the success I so longed for, filling the 
whole room with an atmosphere of peace and hope, 
to nullify, to assuage the pain of those terrible 
moments of a short time ago. "We went on with 
our experimenting. Though there was nothing to 
indicate a repetition of what I now so fearfully 
apprehended, yet it was incumbent on me to be 
cautious and anticipate its return. 

The day passed ; night came. I put him to sleep 
as usual, and for fear of arousing suspicion left 
him in Ca&sar's care for the night, without any 
extra precautions. He passed the night as usual, 
and awoke the following morning as on the pre- 
vious mornings. 

Nothing was in the way now to my going 
forward in the solution of the main problem, to 
the accomplishment of my purpose. The patient 
seemed none the worse from his experience of 
yesterday; and though my mind was somewhat 
diverted from the main issue by having to keep 
my attention on this new difficulty which had so 
suddenly presented itself, yet the longer I worked 
the less apprehensive was I that it would be re- 
peated. 

It was in the afternoon. I had almost forgotten 
the events of horror which had so terribly shocked 
me and pained my patient, in my eagerness and 
intentness in pursuing the main problem. But 



THE PEOBLEM 123 

unexpectedly Caesar handed me a note, apologizing 
at the same time and offering as an excuse that it 
was of much importance. Being in no hurry to 
read it, I worked on for several minutes. It said : 
"Call at Hotel W at your earliest con- 
venience. ' ' Even then I felt like paying no atten- 
tion to it, and cast the note aside ; partly in deri- 
sion to the demand, partly in disgust. For I felt 
that my work was important, but my being at the 
hotel was of little import to me or to anyone else. 
But after thinking on it for a moment, I deter- 
mined to go ; so calling Caesar I bade him watch 
in the laboratory till my return. 

I had been in the hotel parlor only a short time, 
when a lady, past middle age, was introduced. She 
was above the medium height, had fair complexion, 
and dark hair streaked with gray. Her manner 
told at once of her gentle breeding; for an air of 
ease, yet firmness, spoke only too plainly the life 
of her ancestors. In a few words she explained 
to me that she was the mother of the young man 
who had been drowned, but had been informed of it 
only a few hours previously; and finally requested 
me to accompany her to the grave, and also give 
her the history of the unfortunate occurrence. I 
could do nothing but accede to her request. And yet 
I was paying little attention to her words, though 
I heard them distinctly enough to record the 
import of them here, for far other thoughts were 
hurrying through my mind. For the first time my 



124 THE PROBLEM 

thoughts had borne on my work from the point of 
view of the world. What have I done ? For surely 
there is the great gash in the dead man's chest 
which tells only too plainly the results of my 
labors. And though he be dead, can I hide the 
results of my exertions? What would the authori- 
ties think of the tale as to the purpose of why I 
mutilated it? But these thoughts and doubts were 
driven out in a moment when I again thought of 
the great problem before me. In a few minutes 
we were on our way to the cemetery. 

It was not difficult to locate exactly the grave : 
block 14, number 27. I pointed it out to her, a 
little mound on the hillside facing east ; the setting 
sun was still shedding its bright rays down the 
slope upon the western side of the little hillock, 
standing there silently among its thousands of 
brothers. It was astonishing the quantity of 
flowers of almost every description which she took 
from the carriage. And as she carefully placed 
them on the grave, I could not but think : What a 
combination of forces ! What a mechanism ! But 
she, at least, must derive some pleasure from it. 
And I thought I saw one tear more eager than its 
fellows escape her watchful handkerchief. As 
we rode back to the hotel she commented on the 
loveliness of the disposition of the deceased ; all of 
which I could confirm by personal knowledge. We 
were soon at the hotel, where, bidding her adieu, I 
hastened to the laboratory. 

Once again in my laboratory, and with this diffi- 



THE PROBLEM 125 

culty disposed of, a difficulty I was not expecting, 
I waited a moment to compose myself and prepare 
for any other emergency that might arise. In the 
first place, I must keep Caesar in till all became 
quiet again. For I had evil forebodings from the 
presence of this lady in town. At first I had al- 
most concluded not to go on with the experiments, 
but to use my whole energy toward watching till 
all became quiet. But if I only keep perfect con- 
trol of Caesar's whereabouts and movements, what 
more should I fear from this woman, for she would 
leave the city in a day or two? This vigilance, 
however, did not continue very long, this watching 
Caesar ; for in a day or two I had to caution myself 
about being too careless, and in a short time all 
was going as usual. But let me on. for now it 
remains to hasten to the end. Days passed. I had 
tried every known test with which science and med- 
icine are acquainted as to whether the man before 
me was alive ; every one affirmed the validity of the 
one conclusion; he was alive so far as the condi- 
tions permitted. For his left arm and lower ex- 
tremities had shrunk into a mass of mere skin and 
bones, resembling perfectly the dried and withered 
limbs of an Egyptian mummy; and yet his face, 
his countenance, lived on and on. So I determined 
to remove this impediment to my further progress, 
this useless mass nature had thrown about my 
patient for another purpose. With this determin- 
ation I had seized my surgical instruments, and in 
almost less time than it has taken to tell it, had 



126 THE PROBLEM 

removed the whole of the body below where the 
bulbs were inserted, along with the useless left 
arm. For with the taking up of those instruments, 
again that almost automatic working, that irre- 
sistible impulse came over me; so that before I 
was scarce aware of what I was (about, I had done 
that which I never would have dared had I been 
in my perfectly normal state of mind, had I been 
under the influence of the vulgar world around me. 
Nothing out of the ordinary occurred during the 
operation; for my sense of observation had not 
been aroused by any unusual event, and usually 
when thoroughly aroused that was the sense that 
was most readily excited. Nothing about his ex- 
pression, nothing in the play of sense of his eye 
showed the slightest change in the remaining part 
of his body to indicate that with the loss of the 
greater portion the part remaining had in the least 
been altered. And as I sat there after the opera- 
tion, I could not but admire my perseverance in 
recording another discovery of vast importance 
to mankind. For I had, almost by accident, dis- 
covered that it is the circulation carrying noxious 
poisons which prevents the continuance of life 
more often than any other one cause. All physi- 
cians have known this for ages, yet to test the 
validity of the theory experimentally had stood in 
the way to my search for the answer to the great 
question before me. For are not plants, in which 
the circulation is not so perfect, precisely as this 
patient before me? 



THE PROBLEM 127 

But I must hasten. Time passed. The patient 
showed not the least change that I could detect. 
No one was allowed to enter the room, for even 
Caesar was kept vigilantly in the waiting room 
with not a moment's respite. "But what does all 
this avail me? Have I found the great object for 
which I set out years ago ? ' ' With these questions 
a brooding melancholy seemed to settle over me ; a 
melancholy, too, I could not hide from my patient ; 
for I quickly noticed that he perceived the gloomy 
air that had set about the place, though not know- 
ing its cause. The questioning looks which he gave 
me, ever and anon, told only too plainly that he 
had a fear, a foreboding, of something the uncer- 
tainty of which caused him no little anguish. Yet 
his fears and anguish could not help me forward in 
the solution of the problem; and that was just 
what caused me to be so dejected. For this could 
not continue always ; the time limit in this being, 
as in all other things earthly, the most important 
obstacle to the solution of any infinite problem. 
Yet it was through this very quality that I had 
hoped to succeed; for I had hoped to neutralize 
the element of time by purely experimental meth- 
ods. 

It was far in the evening. As I looked into those 
eyes, suddenly they brightened, and a smile played 
over the lips, while the whole countenance lighted 
up with a halo I had never seen before. As he 
looked into my eyes, a satisfaction seemed to ex- 
press itself in that countenance which more than 



128 THE PBOBLEM 

outweighed, in its pleasantness, all former horror. 
Even while I looked the idea came over me ; whence 
it came I dare not attempt to say, yet it seized me 
with such force that in a moment I was up and 
acting. Now was I insensible to all save the goal 
toward which I had so long been struggling, and 
to which I was sure I was nearing. Let me not 
attempt to record particulars. The only thing 
that attracted my attention was, the rolling of the 
eyeballs outward as the fine surgical saw bisected 
the brain at a point exactly between the glabella 
and the inion. I have never been able to explain 
that. But on ! 

•n* *9? *fr <w w 'fr 

"When I came to, it was far in the night. I found 
myself before the two half heads mounted on two 
low tables with their faces toward me ; the one on 
the right looking toward the left, the one on the 
left looking toward the right hand, and separated 
from each other by a screen. They were in per- 
fectly normal state. For I saw at once that they 
were conscious, and understood as well as ever. 
I was in no hurry now; Iwai as deliberate as ever 
man was ; for in my consciousness was the certain- 
ty of success, only which can give one deliberate- 
ness and steadiness. I calmly removed the screen 
which hid each from the view of the other. And as 
they looked at each other, I asked in which the 
Soul resided. They looked at me ; and then each 
looked at the other; and the great problem was 
solved at last. 



